Long White Cloud Redux
by mynameislizzie2
Summary: And now...the end of the abbreviated trilogy. Emily in Australia, Naomi in Dublin...shattered hearts across the continents. But Effy is getting married...in Perth. And who's the maid of honour? Step forward Miss Campbell, you're needed for your closeup.
1. Chapter 1

**Right...the sequel to Bereft baffled and bewildered. For those who felt queasy with all that angst...this will settle your stomach...a little. But there are some healthy doses of that angst to start with...well, we didn't leave them in a very good place at the end of Bereft...now did we? Patience...**

So, a short recap. Emily and Naomi got together when they were just out of their teens. Naomi worked in a multiplex cinema and Emily was a shy little virgin with an over protective sister and a monster of a mum (ring any bells?) Anyway, they got together eventually and...in _Bereft_ , Naomi got jilted at the altar, (not deliberately) by Emily. Ems's mum had kidnapped her and sent her off to a 'conversion' unit to cure her of her gayness, the night before she could marry Naomi. Katie turned out to be quite supportive of her twin, and they were reunited after Emily's dad got her out. Trouble is, Emily blamed Naomi for not getting her out sooner, as she'd had to put up with Freddie having his wicked way with her nightly in there, and sort of went off the rails in a big way. Drinking, drugs and random shags with other hot dykes. Things came to a head when Naomi couldn't forgive Emily, and they split. Emily went to New Zealand (see...land of the long white cloud...clever, innit?) to be with Katie, who had a fashion job there, and Naomi stayed in Dublin, running a pub for Kieran and Gina. Phew...

Everyone with me? _Right so then_...as Kieran would say...at least he would if he was still playing Dougal in Father Ted…

Naomi

" _Quantas Airlines are pleased to announce that this flight will be shortly landing in Perth, Western Australia. Would passengers please close up their trays and return their seat backs to the vertical position for landing? Captain Warne and his crew would like to take this opportunity..."_

Yadda yadda yadda... I thought. Why do airlines always make this big announcement about where you're about to land? It's not as if its gonna come as a shock, is it? "Oh _no_...I thought it was the shuttle to Paris" isn't heard very often, is it?

But thats just me being grumpy after a less than comfortable long haul flight. Nearly 19 hours in the air, and I'm just about through with in flight movies, all of which seem to feature Katherine Heigl...I mean, she's pretty, and I'd definitely shag her, but romcoms are for late nights with Ben & Jerry's and vanilla vodka...not endless noisy flights to the other side of the world. All the free booze in the hold doesn't make up for being squeezed between a perspiring businessman in a tropical suit a size too small, and a small, very talkative old lady, who once she discovered I was gay, decided to regale me with stories about her own adolescent... experiments. Jesus, I thought at one point I would definitely be taking advantage of the posh sick bags in the business section. My mum and Kieran had insisted I fly Business Class, and I suppose I should thank them for it, judging my the scrum in cattle class, but I still think it was a waste of £2000.

Anyway, as I stretched my aching neck muscles and peered through the window, over the small lady's smiling face, I caught my first glimpse of the Indian Ocean below. It was cloudless out there, and as the aircraft slowed, I could start to see roads and the harbour on the Swan River outlined below in vivid blue and ochre.

Soon enough we were bumping the wheels down on the tarmac and the big jet engines roared into reverse thrust, slowing us down dramatically. I only had to suffer one more lesbian anecdote from Mrs Marple and one more unsubtle leer at my arse from Mr Perspiration, and I was up and out of my seat. I grabbed my flight bag and started forward to the open doors.

'Jesus, its fucking _hot_ ', was my first thought. My second being, 'Of course it is, you twat...its Australia'.

But it was fucking hot. I was glad I'd taken the time, an hour ago, to change into a pair of shorts and a loose shirt. After the cold and rain of Dublin, this was going to be a real climate shock.

So why are you in Australia?, I hear you say. If you were gonna go to the bottom of the world, shouldn't you be in New Zealand...where the love of your life went nearly a year ago? Well that would be true, if she was still the love of my life (and don't start, nasty little inner voice...she's really not the love of my life any more, is she?) But Emily has been gone for a while now, and apparently she's moved on pretty impressively. Effy and even Katie to an extent, keep me up to date with all matters Fitch. Not that I want to know. The last thing you need to hear when you're grieving over a lost love, is to find out they're doing brilliantly, all loved up with someone else and having a whale of a time. Is it?

So when I got through the interminable immigration and baggage reclaim sections of the airport, I was relieved to see a familiar face waiting for me in Arrivals.

"Naomi, you lovely Pommie dyke" Effy yelled, which alerted the remaining 22,000,000 people in Australia who didn't know, that I'm gay.

"Thanks Eff" I said irritably "I've just spent an entire flight trying to avoid the passenger next to me relating her ancient lesbian sexual history, and now most of the other passengers are looking at me as if I have ' _muff diving here_ ' on my forehead. Cheers"

"What?" she smirked, totally not bothered..."So, you're _not_ gay any more?"

"Yes Eff...I'm still gay..still buffing the beaver like a trooper...although its been a bit thin on the ground in Dublin's Fair City lately. Since I split with Izzy, there seems to be a shortage of hot Irish dykes. I suppose you're still disgustingly loved up with, err...what's her name?"

Effy had the grace to look a bit chastened, but she soon fired off another trademark grin.

"Jenny?" she smiled "Well. Considering you're over here for our wedding, I suppose its still hanging in there by a thread.. Although, you know the offers always there, if you want another dose of Stonem tongue music"

"Fuck off..." I said good naturedly "Jenny would have my proverbial's if it even looked like happening. And anyway...you know one night with me, and you'd be ruined for life with any other female...don't risk everything for a night of orgasmic wonder, Eff"

We both chuckled a bit at that. With Effy and my history, we could afford to be a bit risqué between ourselves, but I don't think her blonde Australian girlfriend would be too happy if we said any of this in front of her. Effy and I _did_ have history, a long time ago, but we operated much better as friends nowadays.

In another 5 minutes, we were skirting the airport car park, and making our way towards Tonkin Highway, and Craigie, where Eff and Jenny lived. And then I saw it...along the roadside...a huge billboard poster, advertising poxy _toothpaste_ , of all things.

The usual trite advertising blurb ran in 2 foot high letters underneath...and above that a ten times life size picture of a smiling model. A brunette, with long hair and stunning chocolate eyes. A model I knew only too well...Emily fucking Fitch.

My eyes locked onto her image, and my heart thumped so hard I swear they would be able to hear it outside the car. I saw Effy's eyes follow mine, as I abruptly stopped talking, and she grimaced.

"Oh fuck...forgot about that babe...Emily is a bit of a celeb over here nowadays"

"No shit Sherlock" I said tightly "My life is now _fucking_ complete"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Naomi

"Uhh...Sorry Naoms..." Effy said, unusually for her out of smart responses.

"I honestly didn't see that on the drive in to the airport. I meant to tell you about Emily's new celeb status. Katie used her contacts inside the fashion business to get Emily's portfolio in front of a couple of agencies agency. She's done quite a few of these jobs lately"

"Nice to see she's doing well" I said sourly "I suppose the ' _new girlfriend_ ' is a celeb too?"

"Not exactly" Effy said "A bit of a bitch by all accounts, but more of a 'star fucker' than famous in her own right. I think she set her sights on Emily at some launch party...and well, the rest is history"

"Bit like me then...history?" I muttered bitterly " Naomi gets fucked over yet again"

"Listen babe..." Effy said, turning the car radio right down, and flicking a worried glance at me " I know this isn't the best time for you. But Jenny and I _really_ wanted you to be here. _You're_ my best mate.…

She waited for me to favour that title with a curt nod.

...Katie and Emily wouldn't even be _coming_ to the wedding if I was in charge of the invites...but Jenny wants Katie there...and, well, where Katie goes...Emily follows...nothing has changed that much hun"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better Eff?" I said quietly " I have to face a radiant, newly successful Emily, at MY best friends wedding, complete no doubt with an equally beautiful girlfriend, on my fucking own, looking like the no friends loser I am...on _her_ turf. Tell me again how great this day's gonna be?"

Effy looked at me quickly, before turning back to the road, and speaking.

"Ummm..." she started "Not just the wedding babes... I might have forgotten to mention the hen night tomorrow...we're all meeting up in a new bar in town, before going to a club. VIP section and stuff...Katie sort of arranged it as a surprise for me and Jen"

I could feel cold rage bubbling up inside me, but swallowed it. The long flight and jet lag were kicking in big time, and I doubted I had the energy for an all out fight with Effy right now. I would just have to suffer the next few days, and then use the rest of my month here to do some exploring...anywhere BUT where Emily Fitch was residing. Maybe I could fly over to Melbourne and look up some friends from school who'd emigrated here a few years ago. Jenny and Eff would be on honeymoon by then, so it wouldn't matter to them...

"Naoms?" Effy said anxiously, and I realised I had been daydreaming whilst she was talking.

"What?" I said, irritably.

"Sorry, hun...you were miles away...I was saying that you won't be going to the party...or the wedding alone. Jenny has this Polish friend...Edita...she's a really hot blonde, beautiful, single...and totally gay...and she's seen your pictures...and wants to meet you, like big time"

"So I'm being farmed out to the local spare dykes now, is that it...?" I spat.." Why not go the whole hog and hire out an escort girl...I hear they charge by the hour...much cheaper in the long run, _Elizabeth_ "

" _Hey_?" Effy said in a hurt tone "I can't do anything about Emily's new celebrity status, or her choice of girlfriend...but I was trying to help here babe. Think about it...turning up with a hot blonde yourself will make you look like you've moved on too and are proper sorted for a new girlfriend? I don't think the alternative of you brooding in the corner all night, sending daggers Emily's way is much of an improvement, is it?"

I hated the fact that she was right...but she was. Turning up at all was going to be painful. The poster we'd just passed may have been airbrushed and photo shopped to fuck, but Emily was always a traffic stopper, even when she was in her tragic goth whore phase. Being there on my own would be _way_ more humiliating. Like she had got on with living, and I had turned into Miss fucking Havisham or something. Anyway, this Edita might be as hot as Effy had described. It had been 5 months since I had been intimate with a woman, and that was only a frantic finger fuck against a wall behind a Grafton Street bar. Maybe this Polish hottie could scratch my itch, and even smother the ache I still had in my heart over Miss Fitch?

I blew out a puff of frustrated air, and held my hands up in front of me in mock surrender.

"OK...OK..." I said " You're right...as fucking _usual_ , Stonem...Turning up with a hot blonde on my arm wont be _quite_ as tragic as sidling in like billy no mates. Is this Edita... up... for it, then?"

"Depends what you mean by ' _it_ ' Campbell" Effy chuckled dirtily "If you mean is she up for some naked after party fun with our favourite pasty Pom...I'd say you have a better than even chance...so I've heard, of course..." She held up her engagement ring finger and waggled it " _I'm_ apparently off limits to stray Polish vamps these days". Her throaty giggle was infectious. "But thats as long as you don't spend all evening sending filthy looks to your ex...bit of a passion killer for Edita that, babes"

I nodded. "I get it Eff..no visual daggers. I'll do my best to be polite and civil? But I ain't making any promises if I get my nose rubbed in it...by either Fitch"

"Point taken" Effy said " So lets get you back to Craigie. You can have a shower and something to eat, then sleep off that jet lag and we'll go shopping tomorrow in the mall for a party frock? Something tells me you need to dress to impress tomorrow. And I know your wardrobe of old. You're such a fucking _boy_ Campbell"

I rolled my eyes at that. But she was right...again. The rest of the drive was made in comfortable silence. Happily, there were no more 20 foot Emily shaped posters by the road to worsen my mood.

XXX

Well, Edita was every bit as sexy as Effy had described. As tall as me, with long natural blonde hair, big blue eyes and a killer body, she looked like she'd stepped off the cover of one of Katie's magazines. I raised a curious eyebrow at Effy when we were introduced. I got the fact that this girl was gay and beautiful. But available? Back in the UK, she would be besieged by desperate dykes at every outing. How come she was sitting in Effy's lounge, waiting to meet some pale, jilted English nobody?

I got answers later, but I suppose for that moment I was relieved that she only had one head and both eyes. Some of my blind dates from the past were a bit less...conventional.

She spoke English with a mixture of Polish and Australian accents, which was very cute, and I found that after a few minutes, I was relaxing. Eff and Jenny were serving cold drinks and trying to gloss over the fact that Edita and I were total strangers. All in all, I suppose it could have gone worse, for a first meeting. But I was pretty knackered after the flight from hell, so we wrapped up the impromptu meet and greet early. I felt a bit better about the whole thing, and yawned a lot...the hint worked.

Edita left, promising to be back the next day at 7. I was going shopping with Effy and Jen in the afternoon, for _that_ cocktail dress, and then we were meeting back at their house for pre party drinks. When she left, she gave me an unexpected hug. I caught her scent, which was obviously expensive and it was nice to feel a fit woman's body pressed up against mine. It had been way too fucking long. Izzy and I had only lasted a week after Emily had flown home. Actually, I'm surprised it lasted that long. I was worse than useless to her. A crying, miserable wreck, devastated beyond repair..at least by anyone but Emily Fitch. It wasn't fair on anyone. We slept together once more...but its probably a bit off putting when your partner is biting her lip, trying not to call out another woman's name when you're trying your best to make her come...and then, if you eventually do...she cries like a baby for her lost love for minutes afterwards. No, it had to end.

So squeezing another very attractive woman's body, while she kisses your cheek, wasn't the worst experience I'd had on Aussie soil.

I slept for 10 hours straight in the guest room, and woke up ridiculously early. Of course, being summer there, it was bright and hot already. I pulled on a fresh tee then walked out into the kitchen helping myself to a glass of fresh orange juice from the huge American style Smeg fridge. I opened the veranda windows wide and walked out into the sprawling back garden. It was framed by mature trees and shrubs...and set back from the only other neighbours house. I took one look at the clear blue water of the sunken swimming pool and said to myself...why not?

Only Jenny and Effy were at home, and as it was only 6am, I didn't think they'd be up for hours.

So I put my half full glass of cold juice down on the tiled surround and pulled my tee over my head. I don't wear knickers in bed...something else I picked up from Emily... _her_...and so the hot morning sun bathed my naked body in warmth immediately. There isn't much call for skinny dipping in Ireland...its usually too cold, and when its not...its fucking raining... so this was a treat I wasn't going to deny myself. I dipped a cautious toe in the water. Too many freezing dips in English pools had taught me that. But even at this time of the morning, it was plenty warm enough. I plunged in head first, surfacing quickly and feeling the gentle breeze ruffle my wet hair as I breast stroked up and down the pool. This was something I did well, swimming. Even when I had been at my lowest, when Emily had been playing the whore of Babylon back in Bristol, I had kept up my daily swimming. It compensated for all those lost nights and the excess medicinal vodka, and it kept my body toned and fit. I might have been paler than the average Aussie at that moment, but I have a good body, and I didn't have any worries about anyone seeing me naked. Except of course, I wasn't planning on that just yet.

Which was where it all went sideways. After almost an hour of crawl, breaststroke and backstroke up and down the length of the pool, my muscles singing and my head now clear of dark thoughts, I pulled myself out in one move and picked up the brightly coloured beach towel from the lounger. As the water streamed off my body in rivulets, I towelled my face and hair vigorously. The sun was getting hotter by the minute, and as I dropped the towel from my face...I froze.

Standing by the back of the garage...having obviously come round the side of the bungalow... were two horribly familiar figures. The towel dropped from my nerveless fingers and I stared at them, temporarily paralysed.

Katie and Emily **Fitch**...?

Now shock can do several things to you, and my initial paralysis was one of them. I'm not normally an exhibitionist, and I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of women who have seen me naked since I grew up...Unfortunately, one of them was standing in front of me...but anyway, like I said, shock does funny things to you.

My initial instinct was to dive for the lounger and crouch behind it. But a certain sly inner voice was nagging me not to. I'm not vain, and I'm no supermodel...but I have a fucking good body nowadays and something told me not to hide it today. There was no way I wanted to be humiliated any more by my ex...and this was about the perfect opportunity to show it.

So I straightened up, stood proud and stared them down. I was in my friends backyard, in her pool. Why did _I_ need to apologize? I got two very distinct reactions. Both twins eyes were locked on my nude body (thank God I'd waxed before I left the UK...)

Katies initial look of horror was replaced by a narrow professional stare. I knew she would be assessing my curves with the dispassionate eye of a heterosexual fashion editor. Emily however...(who, of course, had a more than passing acquaintance with my more intimate...bits) was flat out perving. There wasn't much she hadn't seen, or played with many times in the past...but she looked ready for an instant replay, twin sister present or not. My tits were pretty obviously still her favourite part of me...

My heart was banging in my chest, and I wanted nothing more than to grab the towel and run for it. But fuck it...I wanted to show Emily that I hadn't just faded away. Whilst my nerve held out of course.

Finally I spoke to relieve the growing tension.

" _Well_...this isn't _QUITE_ the way I expected to bump into you both...but one of us should break the ice... huh?"

"Way to make a fucking entrance, Campbell" Katie said finally, at last looking away from my torso and up at my eyes. "We just called in on the way to Emily's shoot, to check the time we're meeting tonight. By the way...and this is meant professionally, not personally bitch, you're looking pretty good these days...for a pasty Pom, anyway...working out?"

"Why thank you Katie" I smirked, with more confidence than I actually felt "Life didn't come to an end when the Fitch twins left soggy England...and yes to that question...no point in letting the merchandise go to waste is there?"

Emily was still staring. I noticed her pupils had expanded hugely, despite the bright sunlight.

"Hi Naomi" she finally said, in that deep brown voice that used to make my nipples crinkle...well it still did...and I was uncomfortably aware that her eyes had done several tours of my body already, and she didn't look like stopping anytime soon.

"Hi Emily" I said quietly "Well, if you've both dribbled enough over my arse...maybe I could get dressed...anyone for coffee?"

They both shook their heads quickly. But it was Emily who spoke first.

"Err...no thanks all the same. We're late already. I guess we'll see you tonight...at the bar?...I'll just text Effy later, if thats OK?"

I picked up the towel, and finally hid the Campbell jewels from the appreciative audience. Just before they disappeared down the side of the building, Katie turned and gave me a tight smile

" I take it you'll be wearing a bit more tonight Campbell...?"

"That I can't promise Katie..." I smirked. "Depends on what my _date_ thinks of my outfit"

I saw Emily's shoulders tense at that, and she shot me a strange look as they left.

Just as they disappeared out of sight, I heard the unmistakeable sound of a Katie stage whisper

"I **told** you this was a fucking bad idea Ems...Jesus...you and that blonde bitch? Like fucking magnets...I give up"

I swallowed hard as the Fitch twins finally disappeared and then I turned to walk indoors. Inevitably, there was a slim dark haired figure just inside the billowing insect curtain. Effy fucking Stonem, of course. She slow hand clapped me as I walked shakily into the kitchen. My fragile bravado now totally absent.

"Fucking _excellent_ performance, Naoms" she chuckled "It would have taken a natural born Stonem to see that you were actually shitting yourself out there...Oh...and nice body hun... _someone's_ been working out, I see?"

"Perv" I grinned...only trembling a bit from my naked show "Think it worked?"

"I'd say so..." She grinned broadly "I think Miss E Fitch left a puddle on the patio, and _she_ wasn't swimming. Someone still has the major hots for you. Thing is...what are you going to do about it?"

My euphoria at the little victory evaporated quickly...What WAS I gonna do about it? The physical attraction between me and my ex was still as strong as ever. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with holding myself together just then, I would probably have left a non chlorine puddle of my own. Emily's simple yellow summer dress had shown off all her petite curves a treat, and the sun kissed skin of her shoulders...and other places...had made my stomach clench more than once.

"I don't know" I admitted miserably "She's got a whole new life over here...including, apparently, a hot new girlfriend. Lusting over my naked tits is one thing...anything else is probably off the chart"

"Never say never" Effy said quietly " I think you can safely say that the younger Fitch's fascination with all things Campbell is intact. You played a blinder there, girl...Anyway...in Australia all things are possible...haven't you seen the TV ads?"

We sniggered together, and I went off to get showered and dressed.

Ten hours later, we would soon find out if I was still a Fitch magnet. After a pretty exhausting round of the boutiques in Perth, I finally managed to persuade Jenny and Effy that if I visited just be more shop, I would break down and do an impression of a four year old on the floor, complete with star shapes and amplified wailing. They gave in, and we went back to the second shop we had browsed. Luckily, the midnight blue cocktail dress I had tried on was unsold, and despite Effy's complaints that it didn't show enough tit and leg, I bought it. Another $400 Australian added to my debit card. At this rate, I'd have to go to Sydney afterwards, and audition for a part in an Abbey Winter's lesbian porno to pay my way home. I got shoes to match, and a tiny clutch bag completed the outfit. I thought the dress showed just enough cleavage and thigh to promise, but maybe not guarantee action. In any case, I think my ex had seen enough of my newly toned body today... No point in being crass about it. Tonight was supposed to be about Eff and Jen... My own sad problems were my own...

So, after a hot bath, moisturiser and an hour letting Jen have her way with my makeup, I was ready. Looking at the three of us in the full length hall mirror, just before the cab arrived, I had to admit we looked super hot. Effy was in smoky grey (quelle surprise) and Jen was wearing a split skirt and top in white, which set off her blonde hair and tanned skin beautifully. We took a couple of selfies, just for the record, and then the taxi hooted outside. Show time.

Edita was already in the taxi, dressed to kill in a tiny electric blue silk dress. Its showed off her spectacular tits and long legs a treat. If I hadn't been preoccupied with thoughts of Emily and her new girl, I would probably have jumped her there and then. She greeted me with an unexpected kiss on the lips, and a genuine " _Wow_ " which made me feel a whole lot better about the evening in front of us.

The bar wasn't too crowded, and we ordered four Rickeys...which I hadn't had before, but it was made with gin and lime, so I wasn't complaining. After three rounds, that pleasant alcohol buzz in my stomach was being joined by a second, fizzier mood in my brain. Of course...Effy had drugs. When did she not? This time it was a cocktail of a different variety. I' m no expert, but I know it had amphetamine and MDMA in it, and probably something else...maybe that went some way to explain the shit storm later...

So another hour passed, and we carried on sampling the bars extensive cocktail menu. We got the usual amount of attention from the hoorays and local studs, but when Effy briefly snogged Jenny, Edita and then me, the roar nearly lifted the roof off. We left shortly afterwards. Some of the straight girls were shooting us unpleasant looks for taking the limelight off them.

So on we went to the Geisha club. Katie and Emily were supposed to be meeting us there, but when we got inside, the manager escorted us to a section already cordoned off, but with no sign of the Fitches. We got a complementary cocktail each, and spent the first 15 minutes taking in the sights and having our ears assaulted by the house music.

Jen spotted them first. The manager was in front, followed by the unmistakeable figure of Katie Fitch. Head high, doing her normal queen bee impression. She was wearing a shimmering blue outfit with a generous amount of flesh on show. Following her was what looked like an Aussie jock straight from central casting. Tall, blonde and with the normal designer stubble and gold ear hoop. His grin, when he spotted us, was so white I wished I'd kept my sunglasses in my bag. Behind _him_...was Emily...looking a million dollars of course, in a sheer red number slashed across the chest, showing tantalizing glimpses of her creamy tits. Her hair was up again, piled up on her head beautifully. Her head was down, until the person behind her said something in her ear, then she looked up and we locked eyes. Now I know we had only met this morning, in circumstances a little less formal...but now the encounter was expected...dangerous...charged.

You know in those clever screen shots, where the camera zooms at the same time as its tracked backwards...well, this was one of those moments. My breathing seemed to stop, and the pleasant buzz from the alcohol and the drugs disappeared. It was like we couldn't break contact. She carried on walking up the stairs behind her sister and the Aussie Rules footballer, but it was like no one else was even in the room. Eventually, we had to break the stare. Katie air kissed Effy and Jen and introduced Jeff, her current squeeze. Then she moved to one side, after nodding to me briefly. Suddenly, Emily was there...right in front of me. I honestly don't know how long I had been holding my breath, but suddenly all the oxygen seemed to have been sucked out of the room.

"Hi" I said, cursing the fact that my voice broke a bit "How are you Em?"

"Uh...fine?" she said...and then realised I was purposefully not referencing this mornings meeting...because just at that moment, the person who had been behind her walked round and held out her hand.

"Hi...it's Naomi, right?"

I fucking hated her on sight, but not just because she had ruined a moment, and because she was obviously Emily's new girl...but mainly because of the look in her sharp eyes. It said ' _I hate you too...and by the way...I'm fucking your ex now...and she loves it"_

She was quite short, about an inch taller than Emily, fairish hair, tinted with blonde highlights and cut expensively. Her eyes were bright green, with a brownish fleck, but they weren't kind eyes...they were possessive, predatory eyes, and I knew that instinctively. She was very pretty, in a semi butch kind of way, and by the looks of the tits that were threatening to emerge fully from her tight black top, she wasn't the shy and retiring sort.

"I'm Kira...Emily's _girlfriend_...I'd say she has told me all about you" and then she flashed a look at Emily which made my ex drop her eyes "But she hasn't...not really. She never said you were _this_ pretty..."

I like praise, and usually lap it up...but this wasn't meant as a compliment. The clear message underneath the politeness, if you can call it that was obvious.

' _This is my country, my girl and my game...keep your distance_ '

I smiled a fake smile and kept my eyes locked to hers. No one, even Effy, can out stare me...and she's tried, believe me. Eventually Kira dropped her gaze and slipped a proprietorial arm around Emily.

"Come on babes" she said sharply "Lets go and find a drink and somewhere to um... _talk_..."

And that was that…

XXX


	3. Chapter 3

**Onwards then.**

Naomi

The next hour was a bit of a blur. Kira had managed to sideline Emily over in one of the booths, and was ear bashing her by the looks of it. I have no idea what Emily had actually said about me to her. She obviously knew I was a significant ex... but it looked like _how_ significant had been airbrushed over. I don't think anyone, from the people we were with, to the wandering waiter, right down to that earwig in the corner, was in doubt that the air between me and Emily crackled whenever we were close. People like Kira never miss things like that. It's like in soap opera's and sit com's you see people exchanging meaningful glances and looks, and no one (apart from the viewers) seem to notice. Well, real life ain't like that kiddies. Pointed looks and soulful eyes are spotted, and my cover, if I ever had one, was blown. Kira now saw me for what I was. A direct threat. I had no idea if it was even possible for me and Emily to be any more to each other again...but I knew one person who was going to do anything they could to prevent it.

Kira had her claws out.

Effy, Jen and Edita distracted me as best they could. I think Edita was a bit put out which was fair enough. She too had heard the potted history about me and Emily from Effy, no doubt, but she had spotted our little exchange and was doing a bit of her own territory marking. I found myself being walked to the other side of the bar with her for a 'chat'.

"So...Naomi" she said, passing me a Singapore Sling, which I tried and loved on the spot. Jesus, it was strong, but apparently they use the original recipe here, from the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. I made a mental note to see if I could route my return flight that way...

"So" she said again, using a cool finger to move my face towards her, and away from the club. "I can see you and Emily still have a thing going...am I completely wasting my time here?"

"No" I said quickly "You've got it wrong Edita...Emily and me...well, lets just say there is a lot of history there. Its _over_. I haven't even seen her for well over a year. She's got a new girlfriend...and well...I've got _you_...at least for tonight...so lets enjoy ourselves"

I almost convinced myself with that line, and to her credit, she accepted it without any more comment.

"Only for tonight?" she pouted prettily..."I was kind of hoping..."

"One thing at a time" I laughed at her expression. Pouting didn't make her any less stunning. She had got more looks from passing guys and women than all of us. "Lets go find Eff and Jen, who must think we've deserted them...after all it _IS_ their hen night?"

So we did. And three more cocktails later, and another line of Effy's special mix and the place suddenly seemed bearable. I hadn't seen Emily since the first few minutes, and Katie was on the floor, dancing with Crocodile Dundee 2013 version. Why the fuck she brought a stud to a hen night, only Katie could answer. She never spent any time alone when she went out anyway. One flick of her hair and a small smile, and she was queuing them up for the taxi home. It was nice to see that some things hadn't changed from Bristol to Western Australia.

I danced with Edita, who took the opportunity to wrap herself round me in the crush and make some rather...stimulating suggestions to me while her arms were round me from the back and her big tits pressing into my back. Her knee was also doing some interesting things lower down, inserting itself between my legs and...pressing...on places that quite liked gentle pressure.

Alcohol, drugs and an attractive, sexy woman who genuinely wanted me. Its an explosive combination, and I wasn't frightened of the fall out. Gradually, I forgot about the Emily sized problem on the other side of the club. Effy and Jen were dirty dancing next to us, and I knew that in another hour, we would be in a taxi and on our way back to Craigie. I started to hope that I wouldn't see Emily again tonight. Not that the prospect of her leaving filled me with joy, but it was all too...difficult. She was obviously being policed by the ever attentive Kira, and I thought we could maybe just enjoy Effy and Jen's hen night without any more drama. Silly me.

I needed the loo badly, especially with an over attentive woman pressing certain points, so I asked for directions and made my way to the VIP toilets.

When I got inside, there were the usual five or six over excited and over loud girls applying makeup and gossiping about this or that stud. I smirked to myself as I closed a cubicle door behind me and sat down. My head was only slightly spinning. The drugs Effy had administered were doing their usual job of balancing the intoxicating effect of the cocktails. Normally, with this much booze inside me, I would be verging on nauseous. Emily always could handle her drink better than me...no stop _that_ fuckery, I thought. Forget Emily Fitch...I was having a great time with Effy, Jen and especially Edita. It was obvious I was on for a night in bed with her, and I was tingling a bit with anticipation. MDMA always seemed to have a more powerful effect on me that some other people. One line usually guaranteed I would be more than a little adventurous when I finally got to bed...but I'd had two generous snorts tonight...and it was Effy's special concoction, so the amphetamine was accelerating the buzz. It was verging on the dangerous. I knew that the first kiss...the first caress of my body, and I would be unable to stop.

Which is why it was doubly unfortunate that when I opened the door and headed for the sinks, that the mini crowd of excited uni students had gone. In their place, dabbing tears from her eyes with the corner of a small handkerchief...was one Emily Jane Fitch.

I stopped dead as her eyes caught mine. Hers were huge, but not with drugs. Someone had upset her badly.

"Em?" I said...and that was the only thing I managed to get out.

"Oh Naomi" she sobbed and threw herself into my arms. I found myself being propelled backwards into the cubicle I had just left. Emily reached behind her and threw the bolt over.

"I can't stand it..I just _can't_..." she muttered, and closed her mouth over my open and shocked one.

I suppose I could blame the MDMA...I could blame the booze...but really, in this life or any other...when was I ever going to say no to Emily, when she was kissing me like that? And when I say _like_ that...I mean with her lips hungrily owning mine...her tongue dipping inside my mouth and searching out my own. When her hands were scrabbling to unzip my dress from behind.

I could have stopped her...I _should_ have stopped her, but as I watched her unzip her own dress and stand in front of me in matching scarlet lace underwear, I had no earthly way of preventing what happened. In seconds, our underwear was on the cistern, our dresses thrown over the hook on the door and we went at each other like animals. She moaned, she shook and she thrust at me. When her fingers entered me I let my head fall back and allowed her to suck my neck hard. Not hard enough to mark, and for that I was eternally grateful later...but hard enough to make my knees shake and my cunt clench.

By this time, I was reacquainting myself with the contours of her fabulous body. I revelled in the weight and texture of her small breasts. When my fingers entered her...I remembered how she liked to have one, then two fingers enter her, before beginning the direct thrusts and curls that made her come.

And come she did...in far too short a time. It seemed only seconds, and probably was, before she buried her head in my neck and screamed silently in orgasm. Her hips thrust against my fingers and she shuddered, trying to catch her breath as I brought her down.

Then it was over. I hadn't come...I needed more time than that even with the drugs heightening my arousal, but watching her come... _making_ her come was like being home. I kissed her gently as she trembled against me.

"Em..." I said. I wanted to have just long enough to explain how I felt.

"D..Don't" she whispered " I don't deserve it...I'm so sorry Naoms...this shouldn't have happened. I have a _girlfriend_...we're not together any more...you have a _date_...Oh God..."

She sobbed again.

Just words, but they cut me like a surgeons scalpel. I felt the cold chill of the air conditioning cool my sweating body. We'd just had glorious sex...what the fuck?

" _WHAT_?" I said, and her head came off my shoulder, and those dark eyes filled with tears again.

"You can't just do... _be_ like that...and then say ..." I said, cold fury replacing my smile "Emily...we can't just...I mean you _can't_..."

I was lost for fucking words, which made me even angrier.

"I'm so sorry..." she choked "I have to go... This can _never_ happen again...please don't come after me?"

"Don't fucking _worry_ " I said bitterly "I never will again. Thanks a fucking lot Emily. Still tormenting stupid, **stupid** Naomi, ...when am I ever gonna learn with you?"

She looked at me with desperate eyes as I dressed quickly. I didn't even touch her as I passed her, banging the door behind me. I paused for a second at the last mirror, and thanked God I hadn't got a bite mark on my neck. I sprayed myself with a generous hit of Jimmy Choo and left the toilets.

Unbelievably, considering what had just happened, I wasn't even missed. There was no sign of Kira or Katie, but Edita, Effy and Jen were trading shots of tequila on the bar. I walked up, drank two straight down and slid my arms around a pleased but surprised Edita.

"I believe you were making me some very lurid promises...my little Eastern European sex bomb "I slurred "I need you to keep them...several times tonight...bed?"

She looked up at me hazily and beamed a wide, white smile.

"Oh yeah Naomi..." she breathed " Taxi?"

I nodded and waited while she hunted for her bag in the pile on the floor.

I caught Effy's eye as I smiled at Edita's drunken stumble as she straightened up. The raised eyebrow was all the sign I needed that she at least wasn't fooled for a second. My bruised lips and flushed face would never be excused from too much dancing. She leaned over me, supporting a totally fucked Jenny as she did.

"Enjoy your night hun" she breathed "But tomorrow I want answers. I can always tell when you've been _Fitched_...and it ain't Katie thats got your motor running...is it?"

I blinked guiltily, but as Edita straightened up and hugged me amorously, messily kissing my neck, I managed to avoid Effys quizzical look while I grabbed my own bag.

"See you guys tomorrow" I said quickly and guided Edita to the exit. Tomorrow was another day, yeah? And all I wanted now was to fuck the living daylights out of this beautiful girl who was wrapped round me..and forget...if just for tonight.

XXX


	4. Chapter 4

**On with the show then.**

Naomi

You know how those clever movie shots go into reverse action? Like a mirror unsmashing itself, or a drop of water going upwards? Well, that was me waking up the next morning. Little fragments of sound and sensation from the night before came back into my mind, like a crazy kaleidoscope reassembling its coloured pieces. The first pleasant buzz of the cocktail as it hit my empty stomach...the rush from the drugs as the first wave of MDMA euphoria hit my brain...the pleasant warm glow in my fanny as Edita ground against my arse and semi groped my tits on the dance floor...the thump of Tinie Tempa from the huge speakers...the slick liquid heat of Emily's cunt as my fingers slid into... _Woah_...What the **fuck**...I thought, as the last memory sidled into my treacherous brain... Emily?...her naked body...her moans and desperate breathing?...

Whatever warm, pleasant mood I had woken with shattered like that metaphorical mirror. I knew where I was...in my double bed, in Effy's spare room. I knew I was naked...and I could feel smooth, female skin against my body. I was on my side, spooning what was obviously another naked woman. My left arm was tingling, numb. It was tucked under the head, and pillow of my bed partner. I could smell flowery scent, dulled from time, but obviously from an expensive bottle...I knew the smell, but my brain refused to catch up with my senses. My other arm was around the body beside me...and my hand was cupping a full and firm breast possessively. Gradually, as my senses started to fire up again, my hand registered the owner of the flesh I was holding. A largish breast, tipped with a nipple which was still semi erect, even though the regular rise and fall of its owners chest told me that she was sleeping.

Edita's breast...my brain prompted me...you know, that fantastic looking Polish/Australian you shagged last night...and not just shagged...if we're gonna be honest here...shagged repeatedly, desperately...as if by fucking her so frantically, you could erase the vivid memory of Emily's lips...her body...the way she responded and shuddered helplessly as you mapped that familiar territory in the women's powder room last night.

Ah yes...Emily...with her breathless moans, and her smooth liquid fire...the easy way she gave herself to you...like she had a thousand times before...in beds, on couches...up against club walls, in parks...by lakes and oceans...and in pub toilets, not dissimilar to last nights...except for one key, inescapable, horrible difference. Last night...when she came so spectacularly on your relentless fingers...she wasn't yours to have, was she? Somewhere out in that crowded Friday night club, was another woman. A woman called Kira...who had been enjoying what had always been yours for months. A woman who, when you had run from the toilets from the aborted sex, from the sight, sound and touch of the only person you had ever loved...and more importantly...ever allowed to love _you_...had taken Emily home...and reclaimed her possession. While you ran to the person who you knew wouldn't say no...who is now sleeping in your bed...her sex probably aching as pleasantly as yours from last nights activities, but unaware of your treachery...your deception.

Nice one Naomi.

It all slotted back into place, even as my fingers twitched and the dormant nipple in my palm responded by stiffening instantly. Oh fuck... I thought...I really need to get myself out of bed, away from this warm and willing woman. Enough distance that I could stop my libido ruling my brain. That particular cart and horse had been arse backwards quite enough lately.

It was too late, of fucking course. As I unlocked my fingers and tried to slip my fast asleep arm from underneath Edita's tousled head, she stirred...

"Naomi...?" she slurred sleepily... " _Again_...?"

"No...not again" my inner voice screamed silently...not now, probably not ever.

But she was already gripping my free hand and guiding it down between her legs. As her thighs parted, I felt again her slick heat and the strength of her internal muscles as my fingers were pushed inside. She said something low and needy in Polish...but I didn't need a translator. "Fuck me" is pretty universal.

So I did...again. For probably the fifth time since we fell on the bed at midnight. She was a greedy and appreciative lover. Since Emily had left me unsatisfied and as horny as a 14 year old boy with unrestricted access to internet porn, Edita had made it her business to fuck me senseless.

When we first stripped each other, trembling with the drugs and the overwhelming throb of our libidos, she'd demonstrated an experience in bed I frankly struggled to match. She'd pushed me onto my back, and stared at my nakedness hungrily. She knew I didn't need extended foreplay. Our mutual groping and hot kisses in the taxi had proved that. Once the shell shocked female cab driver had let us out, with an amused grin and a deferred tip " _No tips girls...my old mans gonna think_ _its Christmas when I finish my shift...what a fucking show!_ " We made our way to the guest bedroom, shedding clothes with every step. Edita spread my legs obscenely wide and just dived right in. Vibrating tongue and straight fingered eagerness overwhelmed my senses. In moments, I was a thrashing, moaning wreck. I came so hard, I might have lost consciousness for a few seconds afterwards. When I came round, she was still spearing me with her fingers and wet tongue, spurring me on to a second shattering climax.

I could feel the drugs still turbo charging my desire, and immediately flipped her over so I could taste her. She writhed and moaned as pitifully as I had, scrabbling in my hair with manicured fingers, trying to get my tongue a millimeter further inside. She tasted divine, sweet and addictive, and before her first orgasm had faded, we were tormenting each other all over again. It had the desired effect. For more than two hours, I forgot about Emily Fitch and her contradictory ways. This beautiful, sexy and available girl was more than enough to occupy my mind and body.

But now here we were. The drugs worn off, the hangover deferred. She was grinding her spectacular arse into me, moaning again in that strange mixture of Polish and Australian. I owed her this much, I thought...one more shag...and then I would get up and face what would no doubt be a whole day of post postmortems...

So I let her hand guide me and took the chance to free my other arm. She rolled over and sucked enthusiastically on my neck. Unlike last night, with Emily, I let her mark me. I had no reason to fear anyone else's disapproval now. She moaned as I slipped my fingers deeper, curling them back until she whined her appreciation. I love making girls come...I learned all the tricks and pressure points with Emily, but since she left me in Dublin, I' d had the chance to practice a bit more. Like I said before, trying to keep up a relationship with Izzy was impossible, given my ripped and discarded heart. But mindless fucks against club walls don't count...do they?

So I concentrated on giving Edita a wake up call to remember, and she paid me back...not like you think...this time I didn't let her make me scream. No, my pleasure was totally of the voyeur variety. Last night it was dark, and we were both so out of our heads on E and cocktails, it was all touch and smell and taste. This time I could enjoy the simple pleasure of watching her face contort, her body writhe and hear her orgasm build. She moaned, she begged, in Polish and English, and she watched me play with her, until the needs of her orgasm overcame her fascination with my caresses.

I was sucking really hard on her long nipple when she finally lost it. My hand was a blur, hammering into her...apparently, my little Polish beauty was an undeclared submissive. The harder I fucked her, the more excited she got. I had to hold her down with my newly restored other hand as she bucked and pleaded. I dropped her no doubt aching nipple from my mouth as she arched up like a bow. Her body vibrated, and she clung to me, gasping and keening her appreciation. When she finally subsided, there were tears in her eyes.

If I was honest, I was glad that she was so shattered after that, that she slept again. Guilt washed over me when the realization that I had used her as an Emily substitute yet again filled me with self loathing. As her smile of gratitude faded, and her long eyelashes fluttered closed, I slipped out of the tangled sheets and ran for the shower.

After 10 minutes of hot water, and some more guilty thoughts, I put on some knickers and a loose tee and walked to the kitchen. Sitting at the table, like two legal bookends, were Effy and Jen. I think Jenny had spent too much time with my best friend because she was wearing the same world weary ironic smile. Jesus, I thought, do I have to deal with TWO psychics now?

"Good night?" Effy smirked..."Or should I say night _and_ morning, judging by the orgasmic screaming coming from the guest room a while ago?"

"Fuck off Eff..." I said casually "I thought you said I was supposed to enjoy myself, and forget..."

"Emily?" She said helpfully..."Well, that didn't quite work out, did it? I'm guessing your little absence last night in the ladies was more than just a wee and hand-wash?"

"Don't know what you mean" I tried weakly, knowing it was hopeless.

"Spill..." Jen said flatly "We all know you screwed Emily last night...and then came back here to get Edita to finish the job...interrupted were we?"

"Actually no" I said miserably "Emily got what she came to find...but then she got cold feet and left me hanging"

"Oh..." Effy said, the sardonic smile disappearing "That sucks. But why?"

"She told me it was all a big mistake...she has a fucking girlfriend, and it was all wrong...yadda yadda..."

"So basically, she ambushes you in the loo, gets you to fuck her, then comes over all repentant and blows you off? Sounds like our Emily needs a reminder of what good manners are" Effy said tightly "Maybe she and I should have words?"

"Leave it Eff" I said, picking at my fingernails "She's obviously happy with whats her face...and I don't have any interest in trying to split them up. Maybe Emily's right. Last night was just a stupid mistake... I was high...and I just felt like kissing someone, OK?"

"So what was her excuse?" Jenny asked "Neither her or Kira took any drugs last night. They left about an hour before us. Emily was tearful and Kira looked like thunder"

"Oh" I said, looking up from the table " "I didn't know that"

"Probably because by then you were totally monged, and Edita was trying her best to shag you on the dance floor" Effy laughed "I bet the taxi driver had his moneys worth on the ride home...did you actually make it through the door fully clothed?"

"Just about...and it was a she, not a he. She told us her old man would get sorted good and proper when she finished her shift!"

We shared a sly giggle at that, but Effy returned to her questions. My little diversionary tactic had failed.

"So...what are you gonna do, Naoms?" she asked seriously "You and Emily need to sort this shit out. You can't just leave it there. I have her new mobile number. Why don't you text her, and meet up for lunch. If you can stop tearing each others hearts out for a second, you might find you both want the same thing. You're my best friend, and I love Emily too...but you are the two biggest emotional retards I have ever met. You obviously love each other to bits, but you keep fucking it up"

"She won't want to see me Eff" I said miserably "She made that quite clear last night. And anyway, what about Edita...its not exactly fair, is it, using her as an Emily substitute when I want a fuck...then dumping her to chase after my ex?"

"No...but Edita's a big girl..? I think she knows that she'll always be second best to little Fitch in your heart. Anyway, by the sounds of this mornings little shagathon, she was getting a pretty good deal, being a substitute?"

I blushed at that, remembering how Edita had moaned and thrashed under me only minutes ago.

"Nice to know I've not lost my touch" I smirked and grinned at the expression on their faces.

"Never in doubt babes" Effy laughed..."I have personal experience of the Campbell technique"

"OiI!" Jenny shouted " Keep it in your fucking pants Stonem, otherwise you'll be pleasuring yourself on our honeymoon"

Effy laughed again "Sorry babes...it just slipped out...anyway, you quite like watching me pleasure myself...so it won't exactly be a hardship, will it?"

This time we all laughed.

We had a light breakfast, and Effy took my phone and keyed in Emily's mobile number. Edita was still sleeping the sleep of the terminally fucked, so I went out by the pool and hesitantly tapped out a text. I kept it brief and to the point. If she was going to ignore me anyway, why waste energy?

" _Emily. Meet me for lunch. We NEED to talk. Naoms x_ "

Ten seconds later, my phone buzzed. I opened the reply with shaking fingers.

" _Picas in Northbridge. 1 pm_."

And that was it. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the ' _It's not_ _you...its me_ ' conversation I now needed to have with the beautiful Edita...it was gonna be a fucking long day.

Three hours later, I was in a taxi, being driven to a coffee bar cum restaurant in the same area I had left the night before. Except now I wasn't buoyed up with MDMA and gin. I dressed simply in pale blue shorts and a loose, light blue denim shirt over a white tee. I didn't want this to look like I was dressing for a 'date'. Emily had been freaked out enough last night. Part of me was still very angry with her for starting something she couldn't bring herself to finish, but if I'm honest, just the thought of seeing her again gave me the usual bout of butterflies. I loved and hated in equal measure, the helplessness she forced on me. I could still remember vividly the pain and humiliation of those weeks after she was rescued from that Scottish hell hole. How she had regarded me with empty, cruel eyes as I passively accepted her tormenting me with random after random. But then I also remembered my sweet, innocent Emily...before her twisted mother, who was now serving a 6 year sentence for kidnapping and false imprisonment...broke our little piece of heaven into a million shattered shards. The Emily who bought me flowers, and whispered promises...the Emily who cried after we made love, because she said it was too wonderful for mere words.

All too soon, the taxi was pulling up outside the smart looking wood and leather bar. I jumped out of the air conditioned Mercedes, and thanked God that today was mild and cloudy. I didn't want to arrive looking like a wrung out dishrag. I straightened my shoulders, checked my purse, and walked in without looking left or right. I wanted to appear in control, even if I was anything but.

A flunky approached me as soon as I got 5 feet inside the door. I assumed Emily knew this place, as she had suggested it, so I hoped she had booked a table.

She had.

"Table for Fitch...booked this morning?" I said, and he checked his leather covered clip board.

"Ahh, yes" he smiled professionally " You're in booth 12...please follow me Miss?"

I did. Right to the back of the long room, past some other early diners, until we got to a section with small, intimate leather booths. He indicated one, and I moved past him. As I slid between the table and the stuffed leather chair, I saw that my fellow diner was already seated.

Trouble was...it wasn't Emily Fitch. Instead it was a short, fair haired woman, with pink highlights and green eyes that blazed at me as I froze in shock.

"Well..."she said in a cold voice "Aren't you going to sit down, _Naomi_?"

Her inflection on speaking my name was anything but friendly, and the waiter looked at us both quizzically. Suddenly the air conditioning was redundant. The temperature in this section suddenly dropped 10 degrees.

"Kira" I said pointlessly "I'd say what a lovely surprise. But I'd be lying. What do you want?"

"To talk" she said briskly " We need to talk...don't you think?"

"Not really" I said, equally coldly "I came here to talk to Emily. This has nothing to do with _you_ "

"Oh, I think it does...don't you" she spat "Seeing as how she's my fucking girlfriend, and some Pommie _slut_ is trying to steal her?"

I maintained my frozen smile...just.

"I'll forget the insult, Kira,..for the moment...but I think you'll find she was _my_ girlfriend first, and we seem to have some unfinished business to settle. Now...if you'll excuse me...I don't think we have anything more to say to each other?"

"Wrong again, _Naomi_ " Again the sneering inflection on my name, which was beginning to piss me off mightily. Below the table, my fists were clenched, and I was an insult away from coming out swinging.

"First, Emily's not here because she asked me to come instead. She doesn't want to see you ever again, let alone talk to you. Second, just so you know, I fucked her unconscious last night,..just to reassure myself thats its me she wants, not you...Remember how she likes to go to sleep afterwards with her fingers linked behind your waist? Well, she still does...its rather sweet, don't you think?"

I could feel my eyes begin to sting, despite the fact that I was willing myself to be strong. That fucking hurt, and I bit my lip to stop myself blurting out the fact that I had been inside Emily too last night...but without the post sex cuddles.

"And lastly" she smirked nastily "If I catch you within 10 feet of her again.. at the wedding...which I have no idea why she still wants to go to...but that's something Emily and I will be...'discussing' later...I'll punch your pasty, bleach blonde Pommie face so hard, they won't recognise you at passport control when you fuck off back to Merrie England"

By this time, her cold demeanor had changed to rage. If my fists were clenched under the table, hers were on top, and her face took on a mean, feral look. I wondered just how much say Emily had in any of their decisions. I've met jealous girlfriends before, but this was a whole new level of rage.

She started to get up, but I placed one of my hands over her fist, and she growled like an angry dog as I started to speak.

"Never been one for threats Kira" I said in a voice which I was pleased stayed level "So I'll be brief. Emily may or may not want to know me any more. But excuse me if I don't take the word of her rabid attack dog girlfriend as gospel on the subject. I _WILL_ speak to her...face to face...before I leave. If she tells me the same thing...and without you behind her, twisting her arm, I'll accept it, and leave. But just before you go...know this...if you've hurt her in any way, forget all the macho Aussie bullshit...I've dealt with plenty of playground bullies before. I may be a pasty Pom...but don't make the stupid fucking mistake of thinking I'll back off. Give it your best fucking shot. Maybe I'll mess up YOUR face instead"

There was a second when I saw a flicker behind those furious green eyes. But it went as quickly as it came. She wrenched her hand free and walked out of the bar with her back straight as a ramrod.

I almost carried it off. The waiter was hovering near the table like a worried undertaker. I suppose he was visualizing missed tips. So I ordered a bottle of Aqua Minerale and a salad. Fucked if I was going to stumble out of there like Kira had done. I could feel eyes on me from other patrons, but I kept my head down and moved the salad round the plate for 10 minutes or so. I did manage to drink a glass of the overpriced water...but finally, when I felt a treacherous sob threaten to bubble up in my throat, I gave in. Tossing $20 on the table, I fled. I managed to get a cab within five minutes and sat in the back, staring silently out at the blurred scenery as I was taken back to Craigie.

Effy knew without words, of course. Jen was out, but when I burst in the front door, Eff just held out her arms, and I collapsed into them. Then I really cried...

Half an hour, a box of tissues and an extra strong espresso later, and I had let it all out. Effy just nodded occasionally, dried my tears and brewed some more dark Italian java.

"So, basically...you turned up...no Emily... just her Rottweiler of a girlfriend...and you two verbally slugged it out like lesbian gunfighters..that about it?"

"She doesn't want to _see_ me Effy..." I howled "It didn't work. I'm going straight home after the wedding. I was stupid to think there was anything left to save...its over"

"Bullshit" Effy snorted "Do you actually believe Emily would send Kira instead of herself? It doesn't make sense. She might bottle out of meeting you, if she's scared you won't be able to keep your hands off each other when you're in the same room, but sending her butch girlfriend out to warn you off isn't Emily at all"

She paused and looked at me seriously.

"I think our little Aussie green eyed monster took it on herself to put the frighteners on you all by herself. I think Emily needs to be a bit more careful where she leaves her phone..."

It was slowly dawning on me that I may just have been too trusting about the source of my information? But that wasn't gonna help me now, was it?

"But the lovely Kira is going to keep Emily on a fucking short leash now Eff, isn't she?" I said miserably "If Emily doesn't know about my text, she's gonna think I've given up on her?"

Effy stared at me silently for a couple of seconds...then grinned broadly.

"But Kira won't be able to stop Katie getting through the barbed wire defences...will she my little petal?"

"Katies no fan of mine" I said gloomily "She's not likely to help me get Emily back...she's probably dancing on a picture of me right now"

"For an intelligent, well educated woman Naomi...you can be awfully thick sometimes, Campbell" Effy said grimly "Katie fucking Fitch is never gonna admit it publicly, but she actually quite likes you. Remember who it was that stopped all that fuckery when Emily was going totally off the rails back in the UK?"

I nodded miserably. How could I forget. The sight of Emily's bravado crumbling in a second in the face of Katies murderous threats wasn't something I would forget in a hurry

"So what do we do then?" I said

"Leave it to me babe" Effy smiled brightly, and suddenly I noticed that the sun was out again? I wouldn't have put it past her to have arranged that too. Mere solar bodies couldn't stand in the way of Effy Stonems wishes...could they?

XXX

I spent the rest of the day sitting broodily by the pool whilst Effy made her 'little trip into town' last all afternoon. When she got back, she had Jen in the car with her. I jumped up when I heard the boat sized Holden rumble into the drive. But there was no Katie Fitch aboard, let alone an Emily Fitch. My heart resumed its position at the bottom of my Vans, and my shoulders slumped in sympathy.

Effy breezed in, with half dozen carrier bags and a sunny smile.

"Hey hun" she grinned. I have steaks for dinner, Honey JD for dessert and good tidings for lonely, heartbroken lezzas"

"Not funny" I deadpanned "News?"

Putting the bags on the kitchen table and kissing Jenny on the cheek as she went off for a shower, Effy turned and smiled at me again.

"Right, Campbell" she said briskly " "Operation Fitch is on...I've had a word with our cock obsessed leopard print princess, and frankly she's spitting venom over dear Kira's performance this afternoon. Emily is doing some post production stuff in Fremantle today, so she wouldn't have been able to have lunch with you in the first place. Katie thinks Kira nicked Emily's phone when you sent her that message, answered it, and then deleted the whole convo. She said Ems has been really distracted today...all over the place...and you can have three guesses why?"

"So, whats the plan then Eff?" I said impatiently

"Chill out Naoms...I'm getting there" she said, raising an impassive eyebrow.

"Basically...Katie thinks you two need locking in a room until you sort this shit out...and that's exactly what she's suggested"

"What?" I spluttered "How...I mean, where?"

"Tomorrow" she smirked. "Emily thinks Katie has booked her in for a meeting with a producer at a hotel in town tomorrow. She's booked a suite...in the Duxton Hotel. You need to be there at 2 tomorrow afternoon. And by the way...she said "tell that dippy muff muncher she owes me $800 for the room". But I think she was joking...with Katie I never fucking know?"

I could feel the tension inside me begin already. I had one chance to see if I could rescue this...and courtesy of Katie Fitch, of all people…

XXX

So, now it was tomorrow, and here I was, Naomi Campbell, dressed to kill, sitting on an overstuffed, expensive mock regency chair in a room approximately the size of Wembley Stadium, waiting for my signal. The signal was a prank on my phone. The phone that was sitting on the equally fake regency side table beside me. I looked at it for about the millionth time since I got here, nearly an hour ago. I debated with myself whether I had time yet again, to touch up my makeup, but Effy had threatened me with physical violence if I even attempted to mess with her and Jenny's 'work of art' ... Or as Katie would no doubt have put it "Trying to make that big lezza look attractive"

I think they had at least partly succeeded. I spent the whole morning being poked and prodded into shape. At 8am, I was in a waxing salon, being tortured by a butch looking beautician. I got my eyebrows, nails and...other places tidied up, and then I had been set upon by my supposed best friend and her other half. Now I was sitting here, waxed, tanned, trimmed and buffed. If I wasn't looking my best now, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Effy had given me one of Jenny's cocktail dresses to wear. Black, with tiny shoulder straps with a thin crimson line around the hem and neckline. I think she said it cost a months salary, and I believe her. The underwear was mine...the Victoria Secret set I had bought before I left the UK. There was barely any material in it, considering how much it fucking cost. Sheer and trimmed with intricate lace patterns, the bra pushed my tits up until they threatened to over spill the low cut dress. I've never been one for OTT cleavage, a la Katie Fitch, but judging by the looks I got from the concierge when I asked for the room key-card, it was a hit...and he was defo gay as the fucking proverbial window. The knickers were equally sheer, and a bit like wearing expensive dental floss, but I suppose, considering whats at stake here...a little sacrifice is worth it.

Just as I was about to give in and run to the no doubt plush bathroom, my phone buzzed and vibrated its way across the expensive walnut table top. I just caught it before it dived for the hideous carpet.

" _Operation Fitch is a go. 3 minutes?_ " It said. Fucking Effy and her sense of humour.

I stood and nervously smoothed down the front of my dress. One last look in the full length mirror by the room door, and I followed my instructions to the letter. Stand behind the door. When the knock comes, pull it open, but stay behind it. When la Fitch comes in, shut it behind her and throw the lock. Room key-card in hand, job done.

Well, that bit went like clockwork. My heart thumped so loud, I thought it might be heard in the corridor, but when the knock came, I did as I was told. I could hear Emily's voice asking Katie where she was going, but her answer was lost as she walked quickly away. I'm guessing she made some excuse about forgetting something in the car, but anyway, two seconds later, I was opening the door and letting Emily in.

As the door thumped heavily shut behind her, she stood for a moment, lit by the sun coming through the french windows. Although we were on the 5th floor, all the suites apparently had balconies, looking out over the city and the Swan River. She looked stunning of course. Not in a dress, this time, but a sharp blue business suit. The skirt was short, and showed off her tanned legs beautifully, I had time to perv on her arse for about the ten thousandth time in my life before she spun round to see who'd closed the door.

I don't know whose face would have been funnier. My open mouthed adoring one, or her mixture of shock and surprise.

"N...Naomi?" She choked "What the...I mean...what are you doing h...Oh"

The realization that she had been set up came to her quickly, and I saw her mouth purse and her eyebrows narrow.

"Fucking Katie..." she breathed, and folded her arms over her chest defensively.

"What do you want Naomi?" she said in a hard voice, and my heart dropped another 6 inches in my chest.

Ahh well, I thought. No one said this would be easy. I took a step towards her, and her eyes widened. I got to within a foot of her before she spoke again, this time in a voice less certain, less in control.

"You can't ...I mean _I_ can't...Naomi...please _don't_?"

The last in shaky tones that told me her eyes had registered what I was wearing? Emily had always found me irresistible in formal wear, and I could tell the 'look' was having its usual effect.

"You asked what I wanted Emily" I said, in a voice just as shaky as hers "Well, the answers simple? I want you? Nothing more, nothing less. I've always wanted you? From the moment I first saw you in that cinema queue...from the second I kissed your lips for the first time...from the instant I watched you come, as I made love to you in that tree house in Bristol...it was you..it was _ALWAYS_ you..,"

I closed the small gap between us and unfolded her arms, holding her small hands in mine and staring into those hypnotic brown eyes.

"Just say yes Emily...just say _yes_ "

"I...I can't she said in a whisper...I have a girlfriend and so do you...I live in Australia now...we're half a world from each other...You don't love me any more...and I..."

"And you don't love me?" I said...my heart sinking even further.

"I didn't say that" she said slowly..."but..."

"But nothing" I said, my hands mirroring her own trembling "I DO love you, Emily Fitch..I always have, and I always will. Say yes...and we can make it work. Just say yes"

"I...I..." She started, but I couldn't risk her next words...they might shatter me forever.

So I kissed her...softly and slowly. The moan she gave out as our mouths joined told me more than any words could. She did love me. Whether she could articulate it or not, her body was answering me loud and clear.

She kissed me back, hungrily, and I looked for the bedroom door. I didn't want to waste a second. The longer Emily remained dressed, the more chance she would give into those second thoughts. I maneuvered her along the thick carpet until the back of her legs bumped against the queen sized bed. As we reached it, I unbuttoned the suit jacket and threw it onto the floor? She was just wearing a blue lace push up bra, and I fumbled for a second,looking for the clasp. I couldn't find it, and I growled with disappointment. I felt Emily's hands reach round to the front, a small sound, then the material fell away. Without stopping our kiss, I cupped both her glorious small breasts in my palms. She groaned again as my thumbs found her stiff nipples. This time _she_ growled as I stripped myself, until I was just wearing my knickers. The expensive VS bra was thrown across the room to land in a heap next to hers. Then I was pushing her back, kneeling over her as she lay on her back, chest heaving, lips swollen with kissing.

"You're mine" I said, in a voice so thick with desire I hardly recognized it as my own. She just stared up at me, her pupils dilated. When I lowered myself, so that our excited nipples rubbed against each other, both of us gasped at the sensation. I deliberately kept myself just above her...letting our breasts caress each other. It was exquisite torture, but I could have endured it for a hundred years.

Eventually, she raked my side with clawed nails, and I allowed her to pull me down onto her. Her thighs parted, and I thrust my legs between them? The heat coming off her sex was impossible to resist. I ground my thigh against her, and she rocked her hips, inviting more. There was always more...

Finally, we were naked, and I could feel her wetness as well.

"Christ Naomi..." she groaned..."please?"

I knew what she wanted. I wanted it too. The other night was sweet torture. Touching her...there...wasn't ever enough. From the first time I'd gone down on Emily Fitch...I'd been as completely and hopelessly addicted to her taste as a heroin addict to brown powder. Even when I 'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to erase her memory, with Izzy and with assorted randoms in Grafton Street, I'd never done this to anyone else. I'd fucked them with fingers and thumb, but never this...licking another woman's clit was always gonna be second best to tasting Emily. Edita had been the only exception, and only then because an hour before, I had been so over stimulated, screwing Emily.

So when I looked up at her face, and saw her expression, I knew that she knew what I was thinking. This was ' _our_ ' thing. I had no doubt that the delightful Kira had done this to her...probably many times...but it would never be the same for Emily either. I had to believe that.

I moved between her thighs and hitched her smooth legs on my shoulders. She was resting on her elbows, watching me with wide eyes. She always liked to watch me do this. Until she was spasming and thrashing in orgasm, she would watch my mouth work on her. She used to say she adored the way my face was, concentrating on worshipping her. I would keep her eyes locked with mine until she lost it completely...and now...now I did it again.

I whispered "I love you" as I dipped my head, and smiled inwardly as she mouthed the same words back at me. The first broad, long stroke of my tongue, from top to bottom of her cunt produced the same effect in both of us, despite the fact that only one of us was being directly stimulated. I had to content myself with rubbing myself against the smooth material of the bed-cover. No matter...my turn would come, hopefully.

Emily hissed at the slow progress of my tongue...up and down, pausing to lap lightly on this spot, then that one. I had never forgotten the tiny signals she used to send me when I hit a particularly sensitive spot, and I used that knowledge now. Her fingers were in my hair already, one hand holding the back of my head, the other holding my hair up, so that she could see exactly what I was doing. Her hips were doing a slow roll, in time with my oral teasing. Eventually, she wanted more...so I gave it to her.

A finger joined the party, as my tongue teased and circled her small, pearl like clit. She panted then, and made those small sounds at the back of her throat, I knew meant that she wouldn't last long...not this time anyway.

I started to move the single finger inside her. Like the other night, I knew instinctively how Emily needed it. Slow and carefully at first? One finger, delicately used, in and out, with a slight curl back on the out stroke, accompanied by fast trills on her clit. Soon those slim hips were moving faster, and the hands holding my head were gripping tighter. Now she was throwing her head back every few seconds, breaking our eye contact briefly, so she could moan and gasp. I added a second finger, scissoring them inside her, curling, thrusting and pausing for a second on the out stroke until just the tips remained inside her cloying heat. Her moans were now continuous, and the fingers in my hair painful, but I couldn't care less. Emily Fitch was about to come on my tongue...something I had dreamed about happening so many lonely nights at home. I was having as much fun as any human being could think of.

As she started to wail...her voice rising to a pitch her normal voice never reached. I slid my other hand underneath her, slicking it inside her wet warmth. Her eyes flew open and her mouth sagged? She knew what that meant. When my middle finger was coated in her excitement, and my other hand and mouth were increasing the pace until I was fucking her hard and fast, I teased my finger between the perfect cheeks of that glorious arse and slid the wet finger...inside.

She shrieked in ecstasy. I bet no one else knew _THIS_ particular Emily Fitch guilty pleasure, I thought, as I plunged my fingers in counterpoint, sucking on her clit as her body arched up, and her head fell back.

"Oh God...Oh GOD" she screamed "Naomi... _COMING_!"

And so she did. Gloriously, noisily and for long moments. I rode with her on that crazy ride. Slowing my movements gradually, and licking round her sensitive clit as she panted and shuddered with post orgasmic tremors. When she finally laid silent, just her chest rising and falling with deep breaths, I pulled myself up her body and laid beside her. I turned her face to me and kissed her tenderly, knowing she would taste herself on my lips.

"Was that OK?" I asked pointlessly. If it wasn't OK...then I had been wasting my time these past 5 years. She had that dreamy look on her face which meant only one thing. Emily Fitch had just been fucked within an inch of her life. I just hoped it was enough...

I probably shouldn't have said any more...but even lying her, naked with her, watching her smile, I couldn't stop myself. The last time I had made her come...it hadn't ended happily.

"If you're gonna run Emily" I said "Now seems to be your favourite time"

Her face creased with sadness, and I saw a fat, lonely tear appear in her gorgeous eye.

"Don't spoil it Naoms" she said huskily "No one can ever make me feel the way you do. I'm so sorry about the other night...I just lost control, when I saw you...and then, afterwards...I felt so guilty...about hurting you..about Kira...and that pretty Polish girl you were with...Edita?"

My mouth was always better employed between Emily's legs than running off, so I bit my lip when my brain jeered at me to tell Emily that Edita was a pretty impressive substitute for Fitch magic...

"I get that Emily, I really do..you're in a relationship. But are you going to do it again...run? Once is just about bearable, but _twice_?"

I held my breath as she stared at me with an unreadable expression.

"I couldn't if I tried..." she croaked throatily "It nearly killed me last time"

"Your girlfriend said she made it up to you that night...'good and proper'...I think was her phrase...just before she threatened me with physical violence if I even spoke to you again. I think I might have given her good reason to hate me now?"

Emily looked totally lost at that.

"Kira?" she said blankly... But we didn't have sex...that night...not since you and me.. But she only met you at the party...and that was before..."

I stared back at her steadily

"So you didn't send her to Pica's yesterday to warn me off?"

"NO!" she said, obviously shocked "I wouldn't...I mean... _how_?"

"Effy gave me your mobile number, and I texted you, asking to meet up. I got a text back, about 9 yesterday..saying you'd meet me at 2 at the restaurant in Northbridge. Except of course, it was the delightful Kira, offering to rearrange my face if I so much as breathed on you again"

Emily shook her head, as if to clear it.

"I had no idea...yesterday I was in Fremantle, doing a voice over for an ad I did last month, I wasn't even in the city?"

"I know babes" I said, more gently now "But you haven't answered my question...are you going to run...or am I going to have to..."

I rolled completely onto my back, keeping my head turned to her. I used one hand to cup my breast firmly, thumbing the nipple...and with the other hand, dipped between my legs. I lifted my leg until it was over hers and looked at her steadily as my fingers began working. I give her credit. Emily had spent many a happy hour back home watching me masturbate. It was another of her little kinky ways...and she had quite a few? For a late starter, Emily Fitch had developed a very mixed taste in lesbian sex...

Just when I started to feel the sensations my fingers were producing... she made a sound right in the back of her throat I recognized of old, and moved over me...straddling my waist and stopping my hand with hers.

"Oh no baby" she breathed..."Its been too long already.. I need to taste you...like right _now"_

And she did. I tried very hard not to speculate whether her oral skills had improved since she emigrated. I had trouble imagining her even kissing another woman, let alone doing what she was doing then. Like I said, for a late starter, she took to pleasuring another woman like she was born to do it. My legs were over her shoulders, heels gripping her body as she worked on me. I moaned, I thrashed and I begged..and she didn't disappoint. I don't know how many times she and I had licked each other over the years. But it never got old. As I started to lose it, and my cries to God and Jesus threatened to take the plaster off the walls, she gripped my hips in her hands and drove her tongue in and out of me incredibly fast. Another thing she knew drove me wild. When I finally subsided from an orgasm which almost made my eyes explode, I needed almost a minute just to be able to string together a coherent sentence.

"I think you might just have killed me Ems" I groaned. My limbs felt heavy, and I'd given myself a sore throat from all the screaming. No one else had ever been able to reduce me to such a quivering wreck, and I knew now, no one would ever be able to replace Emily in my bed.

I was ruined, frankly.

"So where do we go from here?" I managed eventually. "Are you going to go back to sweet Kira and pretend this didn't happen, or are we going to talk about it?"

"I can't go back to how things were before Naomi" she said sadly "Not with Kira...but not with _you_ either"

"So thats it then?..just a fuck between friends and then we go back to being old lovers who nod politely to each other in lifts and sit at home remembering how bright the flame burned before it flickered and died?"

Talking of dying, I was dying here...it sounded like she was preparing me for bad news, and I was fresh out of ideas how to deal with rejection all over again.

"Stop it... _please_ " she whispered seriously " Thats _not_ what I meant. But we're different people now. You live in Ireland, I live on the other side of the world...what happens when you go back...how could I ever deal with losing you all over again...I couldn't bear it Naoms... I just couldn't"

"Then _don't_ " I said harshly. "Make a choice. I would live anywhere with you, Emily Fitch. I'd live in a hut in Borneo, or an igloo in Alaska. Just as long as you were there. The other stuff is just...stuff. Things we surround ourselves with. Make a choice. Say you'll be with me...say you'll love me forever...and I'll move here...I'll stay to the end of my visa, get a job...a permit to stay...do whatever the fuck I need to. Well?"

I knew I was pushing her, knew I might be throwing too much too soon her way, but fuck it...I was fed up being the passive one in this relationship. I'd suffered in Bristol when she treated me like dirt, and I'd suffered in Dublin when she'd walked away from me at the airport. Time for me to set an agenda. Maybe I was being stupid, maybe I was pushing her into a corner with only one way out...but I had to know.

"But your mum...your job...your friends..." she said slowly "You'd be giving up everything...and what if it all goes wrong again?"

"Then we've at least tried Emily. And I would rather try, than spend any more lonely nights in Dublin fending off women I don't fancy, and men I'd never shag in a million years. But what about you? Quite apart from Kira...there's Katie...although as she helped set this up, isn't quite as anti Naomi as she used to be. You have a job which makes you popular and well paid...how are you going to deal with this..." I indicated us laying in bed "Your personal pasty pom?"

She smiled thinly at that, and I thought for one brief, shining moment that I'd got through to her.

"I need some time to think" she said, looking away from me and biting her lip.. My heart resumed its place down in my non existent boots.

"We've had over a fucking _year_ Emily" I spat " A year when you seem to have done pretty well without me. Nice job, nice life, nice fucking Aussie girlfriend...who apparently 'fucks you unconscious nightly' as she delighted in telling me. What more do you need to think about?"

I was raging now. Of all the things I'd tortured myself with when let Katie set this up...Emily not turning up at all...Emily leaving instantly...Emily running straight after having sex with me...Emily asking for more time wasn't even on my radar. I jumped off the bed and started to dress, throwing the clothes on stupidly fast, breaking buttons and zips without caring.

Emily laid on the bed, eyes filled with tears and watched me dress silently.

"Tell you what Emily..." I said in a cold voice " _Fuck_ you...I'm tired...so sick and tired of running after you. Go back to your nice life, your nice job and your homicidal girlfriend. We're done here. I won't bother you again. We'll go to the wedding, I'll watch my best friend do what we were going to do before your lunatic mother intervened, and then I'll get on a plane and leave you alone for good"

I stopped talking and waited for her to stop me...to say something...anything. But she didn't. Just looked at me with huge eyes, filled with tears.

"Well...thats me then..." I said in a hollow voice. "I tried Emily, I really did. But we _both_ have to care, we both have to TRY...don't we?"

She still didn't answer, just raised her fists to her mouth and started to sob. I felt lower than I ever had. Even in the worst days back in Bristol, I'd carried a spark...but now it was extinguished..completely. I left the expensive room without a backwards glance. It really was over.


	5. Chapter 5

Naomi

I was expecting the next couple of days to be horrendous, but actually they could have been worse. I think I had just numbed myself with despair and there emotionally wasn't a lower self esteem I could find to occupy, so I stayed on one level, functioning but emotionless. I was determined not to put any more of a downer on Effy and Jenny's upcoming nuptials, so I threw myself into helping out.

Effys mum, Anthea, and her frankly spooky Dad, Jim flew in and proceeded to take over most of the more tedious pre wedding organisation. Jenny's mum and dad were already doing stuff, so I just ferried boxes and flower arrangements about, and generally kept in the background as much as possible. Red puffy eyes and grim looks don't belong at weddings, at least only for the brides mother at the ceremony, and only then when the brides pregnant. And I don't think Effy was...

I also took the time to visit a few local sights. Might as well get my moneys worth on the trip, I thought. Surprisingly, the lovely Edita stuck around. She knew a bit about what had happened, but seemed to be OK with being first reserve. She was bright, friendly, and not above giving me a comforting cuddle when I hit a low point.

I never heard a word from... _her_...all week, so I used up all my ice queen credits to maintain the calm exterior I wasn't actually feeling. Effy wasn't fooled for a second of course. She cornered me yesterday morning, as I was having a solitary coffee after my morning swim.

"So, Naoms...how's it really going? You're putting on a good act, but those pretty eyes aren't exactly sparkling, are they?".

There was no point in putting up a fight, and in any case, I hadn't got the heart for it.

"Its really over this time Eff" I said miserably. "I was a fucking idiot to think I could come over here and turn things around, let alone with some lamo hotel seduction. We've never been able to keep our hands off each other in a locked room, but its not enough, is it?"

Effy looked at me coolly for a second and then nodded.

"I make you right Naomi" she said quietly "You've given it your best shot. If she hasn't got the balls to take up your offer, maybe she's not worth fighting for anymore. I've seen you suffer this past year, even at a distance, and I was always the one who said you two belonged together. Time to stop hitting your head on that particular wall. I think maybe you lost her back in Scotland, when her crazy mother locked her away in that boot camp. Ever since, you've been playing catch up, and Emily's been slipping further away?"

That was probably the longest speech I had ever heard Effy make, and it was certainly the most depressing to listen to. She was right. I'd been chasing Emily for nearly two fucking years. The shy little virgin I'd fallen in love with back in that Bristol cinema queue, was gone. She may as well have never existed. The day I was left standing in front of the Registry Office on our aborted wedding day, was the last day of happiness I can actually remember. How long can you go on pining for something that has gone?

If it were a death in the family, or a divorce, I would be well on the way to recovery now. The grieving would be nearly over, and there would just be a head full of bittersweet memories to dust off and cherish every now and again. Time to move on. I actually felt stronger for just thinking it.

I looked into Effy's cerulean eyes, seeing the concern in them. How fair was this on my best friend? It was supposed to be HER time. Hers and Jenny's. She shouldn't be worrying about her sad best friend, but her beautiful girlfriend soon to be wife.

"You know Eff...You always seem to have the answers, don't you" I said mildly " I don't mean that in a bitchy way. You see through shit...and find the point straight away. I've been fucking blind, chasing something that isn't even there any more. No more moping. No more chasing rainbows. I'm finished with being a victim. We're gonna make this the best fucking wedding the Ockers have ever seen, then I'm gonna get shitfaced after you leave to shag Jenny on every beach in Indonesia, but first of all...I'm going to see if that gorgeous Polish Australian friend of yours can forgive me, and let me take her out tonight. I've got a whole lot of making up to do"

"Emily Fitch...who the fuck IS that?"

Effy looked at me, genuinely surprised for once and grinned back at my excited face.

"Bravo Naoms..." she said brightly "You're young, gorgeous and single. The worlds out there waiting. Use up your 3 month visa seeing this part of the world properly. You always said you wanted to see all the locations of Lord of the Rings...well, New Zealand is just a 6 hour flight away. Start planning and booking now. The ceremony's not for 4 days, plenty of time to book seats and car hire. Fucking _go_ for it Naoms!"

Buoyed up with her enthusiasm, I got straight onto my iPad and started browsing. I called my mum, and she wired me a 'loan' (ha ha) of A$6000 and paid off my Visa card. We both knew I would take a lifetime to repay , if ever, but the one thing I can guarantee is that she and Kieran cared about me, and would do pretty much anything to make me happy.

Unlike a certain petite brunette, not a million miles from where I was sitting.

I probably shouldn't have done it...it could have ended up being intercepted by the pit bull formerly known as Kira...but I was on a high comparable to the first buzz of a wrap of whizz. I took out my phone, after I had booked my flight to Christchurch and reserved a Jeep Wrangler for a months touring. Finding the entry marked Emily...I thumbed a short message.

 _"You can rest easy Emily. I've stopped caring and wanting you. You've got your permanent split now. Have a nice life.. Goodbye. N._

I didn't get a reply, which still hurt a little bit, but just reinforced my determination to do what I'd planned. The flight left lunchtime the day after the wedding. By the time Effy and Jenny christened their first beach, I would be in the land of the long white cloud...free, single, and on the lookout for one of those fit, tanned Kiwi dykes I'd heard about.

XXX

4 days later...

"Ladies and gentlemen, please charge your glasses, and be upstanding for...the beautiful bride...and well, err... the _other_ beautiful bride"

I sat down, mightily relieved it was over. Speeches are not my strong point.

As it goes, the wedding went off OK. I went with Edita as my escort and she looked ravishing. In fact we all looked pretty fucking wonderful. Jenny's mum and Katies Vogue discount card meant we were all dressed in the plain white silk Effy had insisted on, but the quality was more Bond Street than Top Shop. I think the cleavage plunge was still more Katie than me, but at least the morning swims, afternoon runs and sunbathing had given my pale skin a healthy glow. I was now almost as tanned as Edita, but minus the 36D tits...I didn't mind...she'd been good to me...over the past few days, and not just as a friend. She knew it was temporary, and we both knew I wouldn't be here for anything more than a flying visit after I got back from my Kiwi adventure, but it didn't stop her slipping into my bedroom on the night before Effys wedding and giving me some much appreciated oral pleasure...several times. At least now I know the Polish for "I'm coming" ( _Jade_...if you're asking...pronounced _Jah day_...lol)

Being chief maid of honour was a bit of an endurance test, but I think I carried it off OK. There was an early wobble when 'you know who' arrived, complete with bristling girlfriend and flashing minor celeb paparazzi, but I steeled myself into giving her a blank neutral smile and a gardenia for her pale blue dress. I got a hateful glare from darling Kira, but I ignored it. In fact I managed, with a couple of supportive squeezes and whispers from Edita, to get through the ceremony without actually looking directly at Emily at all. I caught her looking at me a few times, when she thought Kira's eyes were elsewhere, but I looked past her hopeful gaze studiously.

It was only when I had to give the 'best woman's' speech that I faltered. I was on the top table, beside Effy and Jenny and looking out on the sea of expectant faces made my stomach twist. The fact that a certain person was front and centre made it difficult to concentrate on my words, but Effy reached over and squeezed my hand when I hesitated. The speech was short on amusing anecdotes, mainly because most of the best ones were unprintable, and definitely not for the brides parents ears, but I got a few laughs, and Effy seemed happy with how it went. Then she got up to do the thank you on behalf of herself and Jenny. The first bit went OK, just more bland thank you's and amusing asides. Then she turned and spoke directly to me.

" _Naomi...you've been my best mate since middle school. We've laughed together, cried together, even briefly loved together (I got a quizzical look from Jenny's mum for that little gem)...but I've never had a moments doubt that you are the best friend I could ever have. I know times have been_ _really_ _tough_ _for you_ _lately" And the look she shot Emily and Kira would have frightened a charging elephant.."..._ _b_ _ut things are going to change, I know it. Thank you for just being you...and for being my maid of honour, although I know you hate giving speeches about as much as I do...and the very best of luck in New Zealand, following your dream. Some lucky Kiwi girl is going to get the best present from the UK anyone ever had. To Naomi...then...new horizons, new friends. A toast to Naomi Campbell, everyone"_

Well, that was a shock to me in lots of ways. Effy doesn't do outward signs of emotion, at least not with her clothes on. And spilling the beans about my plans for NZ was as unlike her as it was possible to be. But the long and venomous look she shot Emily as she sat down told its own story. She had meant every word to hurt...and it had. Seconds after she sat down, and the murmur of dinner conversation started up again, I saw Emily get up and run for the washroom in tears, closely followed by her evil shadow.

I didn't see much of them for the rest of the night, but the last couple of minutes were...eventful...shall we say? I drank way too much expensive champagne, but that wasn't an excuse. As I was waiting in the hallway outside the ladies, after Jenny and Effy had left in their limo for the airport hotel they were spending tonight in, a familiar figure came out as I was checking the damage the night (and Edita) had done to my makeup in the hall mirror. No... not Emily Fitch...but her delightful pet attack dog.

I smiled thinly as she glared at me...to be honest I was tired of sparring with her over Emily. It really seemed pointless now. Emily had chosen her over me. I was leaving for good in the morning. The last thing I wanted was a late night cat fight.

But of course...Kira had other ideas...

"Have a nice trip" she sneered nastily "I'd say hurry back, but I'm not a fucking hypocrite"

I stared at her levelly for a second before answering.

"No...probably not" I said quietly " You're a lot of other things though, aren't you Kira?"

Her eyes narrowed, and those small fists clenched again. Looked like she was well up for that physical confrontation she'd threatened back in Northbridge.

"Say what?" she said aggressively, trying to stare me down.

"Well..."I said slowly "Seems to me you're a nasty bully, a spiteful cow, and about as far away from the person who should be with Emily as its humanly possible to be...but then thats just my opinion...and her choice...you must be a _truly_ spectacular fuck?"

She growled deep in her throat, and I saw her hands coming up. Fuck it, I thought...this has been inevitable ever since we first clapped eyes on each other. One of the things my friend James Cook taught me in middle school, apart from how to go selectively blind when he flashed his oversized cock in History lessons, was to get your revenge in first. He said if you wait for the first punch to land before you fight back, it might already be too late. So I took his advice...for the first time since I was 15...I got mine in first.

As Kira swung at me with both fists, I stepped close in and butted her nose with my forehead. It hurt like a bitch, but judging by the crunch of gristle and the bright splash of blood that spurted onto her lips, it hurt a fucking sight more the other end. She gasped out loud and staggered back. Its funny how juvenile lessons come back to you, isn't it? I suddenly remembered Cookies other bit of advice...never give them a second chance. Once you've hit them...hit again...until they say "enough"

So I did, just before her hands managed to get up to cover her nose, I cracked another solid butt in there. This time she sighed. Like someone who had lost all interest in giving uppity Poms a lesson in thuggery. As she started to crumple onto the floor, blood now covering her chin and chest, I grasped her by the neck of her fancy dress and lowered my face to hers.

"Feeling a bit stupid now?" I sneered " I told you I don't back down... _bitch_. This is goodbye for now...but if I ever see you again, cross the fucking street to avoid me... And if I hear Emily has got a single bruise or unaccountable injury from you...I'm coming back to finish the job...understand?"

She tried to struggle, while desperately dabbing at her streaming eyes with a tiny white...well mostly red now, handkerchief...but I wasn't letting her off yet. An awful lot of steam still needed to be blown off.

"Understand?" I repeated calmly.

Despite the blazing hatred which made her eyes look almost wolf like...she nodded eventually..

"You've broken my fugging dose" she snarled thickly..."I'll call the cops on you"

I smiled at her fragile bracvery.

"Do that, princess...and I'll have to stay a lot longer...and when they bail me out...I'm coming back for you...and this time I'll beat you so bad, no one will recognise you. Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb hun?"

"Go on...risk it...I fucking love bruising you" I grated menacingly.

I raised my clenched fist, and she flinched back so fast, she hit her head hard on the brick wall. Another satisfying crunch made me smirk. It was all upside so far tonight...I thought.

Just then, the toilet door swung open, and a certain E Fitch...resident of Perth, WA stood in the doorway, still looking somewhat tearful. I hauled Kira to her feet by the ruined dress and aimed her at Emily hard. She stumbled into her girlfriend and as Emily grabbed her, I saw the red stain write off another expensive party dress tonight,

"This is yours I think Emily" I snarled, watching another, prettier pair of eyes shrink at my expression. "I'll say goodnight then. You might want to have a quiet chat with your unpleasant friend about threatening innocent people in corridors...she seems to have bumped her nose a bit. Bye then... I'm sure you'll make each other very happy...or not"

I swung round and exited the side doors of the hall quickly. I didn't think Kira would go running to the Australian Cops, but despite my bravado, post conflict shock was setting in, and my knees were getting wobbly. Luckily, Edita was waiting by a convenient cab, and although her eyebrows raised in surprise at my grim expression, she moved over and let me climb in the back of the car first.

Effy and Jenny having already left for the airport, I was house sitting until tomorrow. The cab driver, male this trip, didn't benefit from a free lesbian show like his colleague had but the excitement of giving Kira a proper beating made me as wired as a gram of coke. We barely got inside the door before I swung Edita against the wall and kissed her... hard.

She broke off after 30 seconds and regarded me seriously.

"Not that I'm complaining..." She grinned "But this isn't another rebound shag, is it?"

I shook my head and returned her grin, starting to fumble behind her for the zip...

"No..." I said slowly "This is a goodbye one...tomorrow I'll be miles away ...Are you saying no, beautiful...because I have _lots_ of dirty plans for you?"

Her hands came round me and pressed my body against hers.. The kiss she gave me was all the answer I needed. She dropped to her knees in front of me and roughly pulled my dress up and my thong aside. Her eyes glowed as I opened my legs and pushed her hungry mouth over my cunt. No need for finesse here. None at all. Her long tongue speared me and her fingernails dug into my bare arse...Oh...Jesus...

Ten minutes later, she looked up at me from her kneeling position on the carpet. Her lips were wet with my excitement, and her hair reduced to a shambles.

"Well..." she smiled "Thats Naomi Campbells first orgasm sorted...I think we need to cement Anglo Polish relations further..." She reached up and I pulled her to her feet.

"Frankly Edita" I smirked "I thought you'd never ask...get that sensational Polish arse onto my bed...I'm feeling very ...fraternal..."

I licked my lips theatrically, and she fled to the bedroom, clothes discarded at every step. By the time I got there, she was naked and on her back...legs open and middle finger already teasing herself. I threw off my bra, which was the only thing left on me, and knelt at the end of the bed...looking at her feverishly touching her clit.

"Oh Jesus Naomi..." She moaned as I started to lick her up and down, relentlessly "I'm going to fucking miss this, baby..."

XXX

After an exhausting, but satisfying night finding out that Edita is definitely a sub...after I'd fucked her normally, she let go a bit and admitted she got off big time being dominated. Me and E...well, me and that other woman, had never really explored that side very often, so I found some scarves (forgive me Eff, your Hermes silk will never be the same again) and tied her firmly to the bed. A bit of teasing...some harsh language, and dear Edita got off without even being touched..unless you call sitting on someone's face and calling them a dirty little slut touching...coming on her mouth was only the start.

Another slow, languid 69 at 4 am left me like jelly, and it was a good job I didn't have to be up too early. Edita actually cried a bit when I finally slung my new rucksack over a weary shoulder and picked up my tote bag. I would miss her. It wasn't the love affair of the century, but she was sweet, loving and endlessly willing. A combination which in different circumstances would have made me stay. I was a free agent, with months to go on my visa. But we both knew it wasn't a goer. I liked her...a lot...but my bruised and battered heart needed a rest from Australian trauma.

So I left the house after giving her a long slow kiss goodbye. I had my rucksack on my back, and the tote bag Effy had loaned me. New hiking boots and industrial quantities of insect repellent and factor 50 suntan lotion courtesy of Jenny completed the picture of an intrepid explorer. I was bound for the wilds of NZ South Island.

Christchurch first, to pick up the Wrangler, then drive across to Arthur's Pass where a lot of the mountain scenes for Lord of the Rings had been filmed, then down to Dunedin and Otago for the Horse Lord country.

Strangely enough, it had been Emily who first wanted to see the land of the long white cloud. It was a rainy Sunday in Bristol. We'd been out clubbing the night before, and after a night of sex and a morning of hangovers, we were slobbing in front of the TV, watching the whole LOTR trilogy with spliffs and a large pot of Cherry Garcia.

She said she'd always wanted to visit the places it was filmed, and after a tickling bout that reduced me to hysterical giggles, and led to inevitable wet fingers for both of us afterwards, I agreed to take her...one day.

Well the one day had arrived, but I was going on my own. That couply pipe dream had been well and truly blown away. But, hey ho...I wanted to make the most of this break...and after last nights boxing match with Kira, I had no wish to bump into a contrite Emily and battered girlfriend ever again.

So, a few hours later, the Air New Zealand jet touched down in Christchurch. An hour of immigration and baggage reclaim and I was in the car park, looking for a cab to take me to Wairakei Road and my Jeep. Another half hour and I had signed the paperwork and collected the keys. My Wrangler was sitting at the far side of the compound. A few marks and scratches marred its electric blue paintwork, but it was all logged correctly in the documents. I kicked the tyres, making out I actually knew the difference between a spark plug and a spare wheel, and then threw my bags into the back. I could have gone for the soft top version, but as I'd be out in the real wilds, leaving the jeep for hours whilst I walked the trails, I figured it would be safer for my luggage...and me, if I could lock everything down. I'd never quite got over watching Wolf Creek with Effy one winters evening. I know that was set in Australia...but it left me with the shivers for months. I quite value my spinal column.

Anyway, I'd booked into a motor lodge on Riccarton Road, so I only drove a little way from the car hire depot. Just as well, there was quite a bit of traffic about, and although the Kiwis drive on the proper side of the road, like us Brits, I was still a bit anxious about going far in the dark in a strange city. Even one as small as this.

So my first night in NZ passed quickly. I was knackered from the flight...and if I was honest...shagging Edita senseless most of the night before wasn't the best preparation for a 6 hour flight.

So when I woke up in the morning, I was surprised to find it was already 10 am. The maid had been and gone, judging by the pile of fresh laundry on the side. I got out of bed, stretching, then squatted down pretty damn quick when I realised I was naked and that the curtains on my ground floor room were wide open. I might have been brave enough to front Emily and Katie Fitch in the nude...but a street full of curious Kiwi's was another matter. A five minute extra hot shower, some frankly disgusting instant coffee and I was ready for the off. There was a bakery within walking distance of the motel, so I stocked up on hot salt beef and cream cheese bagels, together with a big fuck off Styrofoam cup of drinkable mocha. My tote and rucksack was thrown back into the Jeep, and I was off.

I had the windows down...it was hot...and chewing a bagel and sipping my coffee, I slowly made my way out of town onto the main Alpine Highway...Arthur's Pass, here I come...I thought.

An hour and a half later, I was pulling up in some of the most unbelievable scenery I had ever seen. Huge mountains piled up, one after the other all around me. I felt about an inch tall. The air was colder up here, but the sun still blazed out of an impossibly blue sky. No long white clouds today. Just brilliant sunshine, cool mountain air and the rustle of leaves in the trees. If Gandalf and Legolas had appeared between two rocks and said hello, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I never quite understood the damp knicker reaction to Viggo Mortenson/Aragorn that my friends had, of course...but I would have done a turn on Liv Tyler or Cate Blanchett, any day.. I sniggered to myself guiltily as I realised I was thinking dirty thoughts about elf queens and princesses in the wilderness. "Naomi" I chided myself..."You're in Middle Earth, not fantasising about lesbian Elf Porn...get your thoughts above the waist for once in your life...I'm sure licking pointy ears is just the same..."

My musing about how explosive an elf queen orgasm must be tickled me however.

My quiet laughter sounded strange in the silent air...and I decided to grab my camera (Thanks Kieran, for the loan of your little Nikon, I promise I'll bring it back) and hiked up to the first of my planned stops. Although Effy and Jenny were away for two weeks, I'd given her a rough written itinerary, and we'd agreed I would check in with the honeymooners every three days on Skype.

I took a few shots of the mountains snow covered peaks, and then opened a bag of bagels I'd bought at breakfast. I knew the extras wouldn't go to waste. I laid back on a patch of dry scrubby grass and closed my eyes...Bristol, Dublin and even Perth seemed a million miles away. I realised, as I lay there, just being...that this was a country of new beginnings, new possibilities. Did I ever want to go back to grubby streets and provincial attitudes?

Funnily enough, after a short doze I didn't think I needed after last nights sleepathon I woke hungry again. Must be the air, I told myself...although I always had a healthy appetite...almost like E... No fuck it... I came here to forget...her...why the hell did my mind automatically reference her every time...?

Well, I suppose it was no surprise, really. I'd spent the last 5 years judging everything by Emily Fitches standards...It was a habit I needed to break.

Half an hour later, and another few miles in the jeep, I pulled up outside my first planned stop. Up ahead, about a mile or so, was Deaths Corner Lookout, a tourist must see, OK, but a bit of given on this road. But before that was a cluster of small two and one storey wooden buildings. A mixture of youth hostels, motels and a general store. I'd taken the trouble to book ahead, which was wise, considering the No Vacancy sign was out. That was the last bit of luck I got though. I checked in with the matronly woman on reception, only to be told that the single room I had booked was out of commission. A leak apparently. In any case, I only had two options. Share a room with someone else, or accept a refund and drive on to find another motel. It wasn't much of a choice. Although I'd only booked one night here, I really wanted to explore a bit before moving on, and the views from the tourist spot were supposed to be spectacular. I sighed deeply and treated the patient woman to one of my Campbell eye rolls. I may be rationing them nowadays compared to my daily use when I was a teenager, but they still got a reaction.

I got the promise of a free super sized breakfast at no charge...and so I gave in and took the chunky room key for number 12, and followed the old guy who appeared from nowhere to my bed for the night. It was still only early afternoon, so I figured if I dropped my rucksack inside, I could hike up the path to the panorama view and back before supper. The room was basic, clean and airy. Two single beds, a small wardrobe and a breathtaking view back down Arthur's Pass. It would do. After the quiet old guy had left me to it, I looked for signs of my enforced sharer. There was another rucksack, worn and battered, on the other bed, and some screwed up woman's clothes on the floor. There was no en suite, and judging by the sound of the shower running next door, we were next to the bathroom. Great, I thought, most of the night, I could drift off to the sound of men pissing noisily in the loo. Just the one night then...I promised myself grimly...

I'd only just managed to put some of my stuff in the small bedside cabinet, and was blankly staring at the contents of my rucksack, when the door to the room opened, and a figure came in, toweling its hair. Or her hair...as it turned out. Trouble was, the rest of her was stark naked. She stood inside the now closed door, humming tunelessly and rubbing the towel hard in her black hair.

She was in her late teens, early twenties, judging by the cute body and the way her small tits jiggled perkily as she carried on drying her hair...matching collar and cuffs, I thought to myself before forcing my addled brain to stop perving.

I coughed lightly, and the towel dropped immediately.

"Oh shit" she said..."Sorry..."

"No problem" I said, trying hard to keep my face from flushing "I...err..just arrived?"

She wasn't in any hurry to cover herself up, and as I'm only human...and gay of course.. I took another second to appreciate the slim tanned...not to mention wet...body in front of me.

She reached out and grasped my outstretched hand. Fuck, she was attractive. Now that the towel was in her other hand, I could see she had violet eyes and a cute, elfin face, to match her body. A bit like Winona Ryder when she was uber hot...not that I ever had several wanks to her in Betelgeuse...oh no...that was another desperate teenager...not me at all. Anyway, she was obviously totally unabashed about standing in front of a total stranger stark naked, so I tried to keep my face neutral as I looked into those spectacular Elizabeth Taylor eyes (I'm talking about National Velvet Elizabeth Taylor here...not the parody she became later...although I remember watching her in Cleopatra...oh fuck it Naomi...I thought, she's gonna think she's sharing a room with a deaf mute voyeur if you don't speak soon...

"Err...Naomi?" I tried "From the UK originally, but via Dublin and Perth lately".

She looked at me with an amused expression and grinned.

"Well Naomi..." She drawled in a broad Midwestern accent, " I'm Leah...and I normally get bought a drink before I get naked with a girl...but I suppose I could make an exception for a pretty Brit...I'm from Idaho...but don't hold that against me..?"

Sometimes my mouth operates completely without input from my brain. Unfortunately, this was one of those occasions...

"Wouldn't mind holding something against you" I said, then blushed furiously...this definitely wasn't my finest hour.

She raised an eyebrow and threw her head back and laughed dirtily.

"Well..." She said slowly "This all seems to be going backwards, huh? We know each others names...I know you're gay...and we're gonna be sharing a room...oh, and you've seen me naked...would that be a fair summary?"

"Uh...I mean yes" I stuttered. What the fuck? I've turned into a stuttering loon. I got up and turned around, speaking over my shoulder.

"Look...I'm sorry...you just startled me.. I mean, I don't usually start conversations with naked strangers...and...what do you mean, you know I'm gay?" I ended stupidly...like right, lots of straight girls stare at strangers tits and blurt out lame come ons, don't they?

"Well staring at my less than impressive tits...making little jokes about holding things against me...oh, and Naomi?"

"What?" I said...I wasn't winning this little meeting, whatever I told myself later.

"You have gorgeous eyes...but at the moment, your pupils are huge...bit of a giveaway, that"

"Oh..."I muttered

"So…" she breezed "I'll get dressed, we can get introduce ourselves properly...and maybe you can buy me that pre screw drink later?"

I nearly choked on my own spit at that line. Fuck...I'd been in New Zealand less than 24 hours, and I was already being propositioned by a gay Yank chick...

4 hours later, we'd been up Viaduct Lookout...taken each others photos against the backdrop of snowy peaks and precipitous drops. Oh, and we'd persuaded another walker to take one of us together. She was funny, chatty and curious. I suppose it was a bit of a cliche...the Brit accent being a turn on for an American, but who's arguing?

OK...we had done it backwards...meeting with her naked and then introducing ourselves, but she was good company...and well, I wanted some good company to go with the spectacular scenery.

By the time we got back to the motel bar, and devoured some monster chips (or fries as she called them) with a pot of sour cream we were ready for some drinks. New Zealand beer Liberty C!tra was very tasty and very moreish... So moreish, we ended up staggering back to our room at midnight giggling like two fourth formers at a girls school.

I know you're expecting tales of rampant transatlantic sex and debauchery...but by the time we closed the door behind us, shushing each other like two stage drunks, we weren't physically capable. We'd done a fair bit of flirting in the bar that night, but the arrival of a car load of rugby players out on a jolly put paid to that. Flirting and hand holding was nice.. She was pretty, cute and definitely interested...but getting raucous cheers every time we got close enough to touch was off putting. By the time the pissed up jocks had progressed to shouting "Don't just kiss her...get her tits out!" We knew we'd have to call it a night. I think the barmaid was worried about a riot, so we took our last bottles and fled.

The hangover next morning was so thick, I could have sewed a button on it. Apparently, altitude has something to do with it...but I'm guessing six bottles of strong beer is probably enough on its own.

Leah was up before me, and bright as a button, humming as she made her bed and tidied up the debris from last night. I hate on general principle people who don't suffer hangovers. I do in spades, so I buried my head under the pillow, and salvaged another half an hours sleep as she showered. There was that normal post boozy evening embarrassment when I finally got up, but it was soon over. We were both a bit shamefaced about the touchy feely show we put on last night in the bar, but as we hadn't shagged afterwards, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Leah was pretty, nice and available, but I was glad I hadn't fulfilled the rugby guys fantasies any more than I had already. Although the whole motel probably thought we had anyway, I suppose...

"Ready for breakfast babe?" Leah said brightly, as I finally emerged from the shower and stepped back into our room.

"Yeah, actually, I'm fucking starving" I admitted. Beer being a weak substitute for proper grub. One shared bowl of chips wasn't going to keep me going for long, and I was looking forward to the 'super breakfast' I'd been promised yesterday.

"Look, Leah..." I started. I wanted to clear the air before we faced the world.

"No need Naoms..." she said, and I cringed at the easy way she had slipped into using my name like that...only Effy and E...well, fuck that thought...only Effy used the short version. It made me even more uncomfortable...how much information HAD I given her about my past last night?

"We're just friends, right?" She smiled "Maybe travelling companions for a bit, before we go our separate ways...so its cool babe. I know you're getting over a messy breakup..and I want to see the rest of this part of the world...so lets just enjoy the moment...is that OK with you?"

I nodded quickly...perfect.

"Yeah, sure..." I grinned "Sorry if I bent your ear a bit last night, telling you all my problems? I like you Leah...and travelling together for a bit would be great. Lets get that breakfast they were boasting about"

So we went downstairs and braved the curious, amused and disapproving glances that came our way when we went into the dining room. The breakfast was every bit as super as the woman on reception had promised. Fat pork sausages, lamb chops, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and chunky bread. My plate was piled high with enough cholesterol to fell a horse, but I ate the fucking lot, complete with a jug of fresh coffee and orange juice. When I finally sat back, I could barely breathe, and Leah chuckled as I eyed her toast.

"Fuck Naomi" she giggled "I do love a girl with a healthy appetite...but you are something else honey... Are you this ravenous in bed too?"

I reddened a bit, especially as we were still getting sidelong looks from the staff. I guess they were convinced we'd spent the night fucking each other unconscious, so I couldn't really blame them. I don't suppose too many pretty young lesbians stay the night here...especially ones that put on a show before disappearing upstairs.

"Look..." I said, defensively, but then caught the broad wink she'd sent me. Leah was still playing our audience...and as we were leaving right after breakfast, I thought I'd play along.

"Lets give 'em something to remember us by, before we go?" I smirked

"Not a fucking problem" she laughed "Come here you..."

And she reached over the table, grabbing the front of my plaid shirt and planted a sloppy kiss on my open lips. Fuck, she was a good kisser. Just the right amount of pressure and skill. I relaxed into it. A gentle cough came from beside me, and I broke off the kiss to see one of the younger waitresses looking at us with an amused stare.

"Not that I'm complaining girls..." she smiled "But some of our guests might get upset at the floor show...can you take it upstairs? You don't have to check out till 12...plenty of time for a quickie?"

She grinned pleasantly, and stole an unsubtle look at my tits.

We all laughed at her studied indifference, and Leah and I left to get our stuff. We'd briefly discussed sticking together for a while, on the road..just as friends for the time being. She was hot, and if I'd met her in a club in Grafton Street, I had no doubt I would have shagged her. But everything over here seemed to make me want to do things differently. Leah was right, I had just got through a messy breakup. Even though Emily and I had been over as a couple for a while...seeing her again, touching her again had sparked feelings in me I though had died. It felt as raw now as it did in my flat in Bristol, as painful as the moment she kissed me goodbye at Dublin Airport. I sort of resigned myself to always being in love with her. It seemed that the only temporary cure was distance. Well, I had that now. And I felt a tiny bit better for it.

Leah had told me quite a lot about her life back in Idaho last night, but as we loaded her rucksack and tote bag next to mine in the back of the Jeep and rumbled down the highway towards Otago, she told me some more. She had been brought up on a farm about 150 km from Boise, the state capital. It was, apparently, a bit of a backwoods area, with miles of crops and not a lot of people. By the time she graduated High School, she was bursting to leave. Being caught pleasuring the twenty something wife of her school English Teacher gave her the excuse she needed to run. A year working in New York as a fast food waitress let her save up enough to plan this trip. But then her father died in a farming accident, and after the farm was sold...she didn't have any brothers to take over, her mother had wired her $10,000 as her share of the inheritance. She'd backpacked across Europe, through Asia and down to the Philippines, before flying to Christchurch, like me, to tour New Zealand. On the way, she'd fended off perverts and predatory men, and I was filled with admiration at this tiny girl with a heart like a lion.

Chatting in the Jeep, as we rolled down the highway, across wide rivers and deep gorges, I knew instinctively that we were going to be good friends first, whatever our libidos decided we would do later.

"You know that you and I are gonna end up screwing each others brains out, dontcha Nomi?" she said conversationally as I steered round a parked road train on a steep section of tarmac.

"W...what?" I spluttered comically " You cheeky Yank...firstly, how do you know I even fancy you...and even if that was true...how do you know I'm that sort of a girl...I'll have you know I need wining and dining first, before I let anyone into these classy knickers"

She threw her head back and laughed dirtily.

"Weeelll..." she sniggered " The fact that you took half an hour to stop looking at my tits last night when I got out of the shower was a bit of a clue...and then there was that thing you said to me before we opened the room door after we staggered out of the bar...?"

"I remember no such conversation" I mumbled lamely "and in any case...don't you Americans have a constitution or something...surely there's something in it about drunken promises not being enforceable?"

"Nope" she grinned "Don't believe there is...You were pretty specific there honey... Something about my creamy thighs and some 'special talents' with your tongue?"

"Oh God" I groaned theatrically "kill me now, please...I apologise...I normally wait for 3 dates at least before making lewd promises"

"Apology accepted...and promise deferred... I'm a patient woman Naomi"

I turned and looked at her cheeky smile and grinned myself. This trip might be even more fun than I'd hoped.

We were still travelling together two weeks later. We'd walked mountains, scrambled across scree covered plains where you could easily imagine massive Wargs carrying Orcs on their backs, Hobbit hunting. We'd bought a two man tent in a camping supply shop and spent a few nights outdoors, just lying on our backs, looking up in awe at the brilliant Southern constellations. We'd drunk the odd local under the table, and formed a successful if lunatic pool team, and one night, a few days after leaving Arthur's Pass, I'd given into her sly suggestions, and after a skinny dip in a freezing mountain stream, I slept with her.

Like Edita before her, I'd found her a skilful and passionate lover. She was certainly more experienced than me...even with my Dublin experiences to call on. She told me she'd had at least a dozen lovers before, ranging from that bisexual schoolmasters wife to the pubescent teenage daughter of a hotel manager in Manila. She was gentle but demanding, and when I finally came, looking up into the vast black canopy of the New Zealand sky...it was like letting go properly...of everything I'd been stubbornly holding on to since I left Dublin. I felt free .

We went at it again an hour later. Even in the moonlight, her body looked amazing. She was very slim, with apple sized breasts and narrow hips. Spread below me on a Maori blanket we had bought at a roadside stall, she looked up at me with dark eyes

"What are you waiting for?" she said huskily" You want it...I need it...you're so fucking beautiful...make me scream Naomi"

Now there's a request you don't get every day. I kissed her slowly, enjoying the softness and warmth of her lips against my own. I nipped at her bottom lip, and she gasped quietly before opening her mouth to me. I kept myself above her body, just letting my nipples graze hers...a small part of my mind rebelled as I felt her excitement build. The last time I had hovered over a quivering female body like this, it had been Emily's face looking up at me...Emily's husky voice pleading with me to go on...I shook my head to get rid of the stupid notion that I was somehow cheating. Under the same huge sky, hundreds of miles away, she was probably moaning under a different body right now...telling Kira she loved her, and pleading for more...more everything.

Leah saw my distraction, and reached up to cup my face in her hands.

"I know I'm not her, sweetie.." she said softly..."and I never will be...but I'm here, now and I really need you to finish what you've started...OK?"

I hated the fact that I was so transparent. It wasn't fair on Leah...and she had made me orgasm spectacularly minutes ago. So I stopped my treacherous mind doing any more backsliding in the only way I knew how. I crushed my mouth onto hers and kissed her fears away. In seconds, she was moaning again, and had her arms round my neck, squeezing me fiercely. Her thigh was pressing between mine and I knew she would be able to feel the wetness there.

I cupped one of her small breasts and squeezed quite hard. She gasped into my mouth and writhed as I took the other tit in my hand and repeated my squeeze. Again the helpless moan.. I knew then that her submissive side was asserting itself...another Edita then?... I'd never considered myself much of a top...not with E...I mean not with anyone else. But since I 'd been south of the equator, the two women I'd slept with apart from...well, whatever..were definitely bottoms. I put it out of my mind and slid my hand between our bodies, pushing her legs open roughly.

Again the moan...someone was getting very excited at being handled like this.

"What do you want Leah?" I growled...knowing exactly what she wanted...but understanding that she needed to be made to articulate it.

"You...you know" she said quietly, moaning again when I paused, fingers just at her entrance.

"You need to say it...so that I know" I said harshly..."my little slut"

If she'd moaned before, this was a whole new sound. Desperate...hungry.

"I _am_ your little slut..." she whispered hotly " Do it Naomi...fuck me...fuck me so hard I can't move afterwards. Do anything...everything to me...just do it hard"

I thrust my fingers inside her in one slick move. She was open and wet and I went in up to the knuckles. She arched upwards, forcing her body onto my sawing fingers. I bit her breast, just above the nipple, and she howled her approval. My thrusts got faster...she didn't need any gentleness now. Her breathy gasps and moans were interspersed with half formed words..."Yeah...fuck...just...oh God.. Harder...oh..oh Jesus...so deep...so fucking deep...use me"

I could feel the muscles inside her squeeze and ripple as she got close. I wanted to taste her cunt so badly, but there wouldn't be time...already her back was fully arched, and her hands were on my aching forearm, adding her own momentum to my hard thrusts. From nowhere, I remembered someone telling me they got off being held round the neck when they were being screwed. So I gripped Leah's slim neck with the hand that wasn't fingering her and squeezed quite hard. It was like I had plugged her into the mains...fuck she liked _that_.

Seconds later, she fixed me with sightless eyes...whoever she was seeing wasn't me, but some deep, hidden fantasy that I was helping her live out. I didn't stop.. It didn't matter now anyway. Whatever secret forced helplessness she was acting out... I was just the physical means she needed to come.

Then she did come, thrashing, crying, spasming on my fingers. I leaned over and kissed her as she trembled. Her eyes came back into focus gradually, and she kissed me back. Despite the cool evening air on our naked bodies, I still felt superheated, Even when Emily and I had been experimenting early on, we had never been this rough with each other. I felt slightly guilty as I extracted my fingers from Leah. She winced as I did, and I knew she must be a little bruised inside.

"Wow..." she said, shakily "That was...fucking ...intense"

"I'm sorry Leah" I started. I didn't mean to..."

"Don't" she whispered hoarsely "It was...fucking amazing, actually...I haven't come like that since..."

Her pretty face flushed and I had to know,...well, you do don't you?

"I'm slightly offended" I pouted "I've never fucked anyone that hard in my life...and now there's a 'since'?"

She smiled up at me and tucked my hair behind my ear before stroking my cheek.

"It was 6 months ago..I was still in Europe then...I went out with this French student I'd met, to a club on the Rive Gauche...we got invited to this 'private party' which in any fucking language, is just an excuse for semi public screwing...and...well, I had too many Pernod's...and got fucked by a black guy as well as my girlfriend"

My open mouth made her giggle...

"B...but...you're fucking gay?" I said stupidly

"Naomi babe... She smiled "I'm still gay...but when a sexy French girl with killer tits is fucking your brains out on a king sized bed in front of several interested observers, its a bit late to get shy. The black guy was obviously in on the act...he snuck up behind me when Nicole and I were side by side...distracting each other...First I knew about it was when his enormous dick impaled me from behind. Its kinda difficult to...disengage, when you're the meat in a French baguette"

Despite my horror at the idea of being forcibly fucked from behind by a guy, I could see her dilemma.

"So...you let them both shag you then?". I said slowly..."and it was.. good?"

Stupid question, I know. The dreamy look on her face as she remembered was sign enough.

My mind was struggling with the notion of letting a man...any man...inside me. Since I met Emily, any thoughts of hetero sex just made me gag. But I had to admit, secretly, that her little tale was a tiny bit erotic.

"It was ...err...interesting" Leah smirked " I got fucked brutally for half an hour, as hard as I've ever been screwed, present company excepted...and before you ask...I came so hard, they had to revive me afterwards with brandy. I never even saw the guys face. Just a case of wham bam, thank you ma'am. I only knew he was black because I saw his big hands squeezing my tits while Nicole was going down on me. She made me scream, and he made me beg...I guess I found out a bit about myself that night"

"I feel a bit inadequate now" I smiled ruefully..."perhaps I should get my survival knife out and whittle us a ten inch dildo...though where I'm gonna find some straps out here is a fucking mystery..."

Her laughter rang round the hillsides and I thought, not for the first time that night...how weird it was to be here, now...naked in the darkness of a New Zealand summer, with someone I only met days ago...and now listening to sex stories from Paris. You really couldn't make it up...

We dressed slowly, still chuckling, and packed up the blanket and spirit bottles. We were booked into a small motel twenty miles down the road, and our little al fresco shag had made us late for check in. Tomorrow was another day. It smelt like rain, and Middle Earth was waiting...

I looked up into the blackness above us as Leah slipped into the passenger seat and smiled across at me in the dim glow of the courtesy light. She winked cheekily as I buckled myself in.

"Happy?" she asked, touching me on the knee

"Do you know...I might just be...finally" I said, for once actually meaning it.


	6. Chapter 6

Emily

"For fucks same Ems...are you gonna just _lie_ there like a corpse? I went to a lot of trouble getting everything right for this...act like you're fucking _enjoying_ it at least?"

My girlfriend was obviously not happy about my current appreciation of her latest sexual twist.

I made some appropriate appreciative groans, and Kira stopped fixing me with her gimlet eyes and went back to biting my tits way too hard. The handcuffs were chafing my wrists like a bitch, and the candle smell was beginning to burn my nose, but I faked it enough to persuade her that I was as into this fuckery as she was. I was getting quite good at fooling her, and it was starting to bother me a whole lot more than it used to.

Meeting her at my first modelling assignment when Katie got me the gig with the agency, had seemed a godsend at the time. I had only been in Oz for four weeks, and was still getting used to the heat and the change in pace. New Zealand had been far more my style. Laid back and old fashioned in some ways. More like the UK, I suppose.

But Kira had set her sights on me from the first time we were introduced. She was working as a personal assistant to one of the more established models. But she had stuck to me like glue after that first day, and persuaded me that she could do lots of things for me that other PA's couldn't. I suppose if you mean rough sex and total domination, she was right.

So, within a month of meeting her, and going out on a date (mainly consisting of me being pinned against a toilet wall and finger fucked for a solid 15 minutes) she'd moved in with me. Katie had already found another male 'victim' by then and moved out, so I had no ready excuse for not having Kira around.

At first, apart from the fact that her sex drive was completely built around being the most dominant top I had ever been with, she was tolerable. But she was only happy when I was completely obedient. Maybe that was it. She was the polar opposite of how Naomi had been before we split for the last time. I hated myself for the way I had put Naomi into the blackest despair, fucking a dozen random women, usually right under her nose. But I sort of hated _her_ for it just as much. I wanted her to fight for me. But she was so sweet, kind and forgiving, I found myself punishing her more and more. It was only when Katie fronted me at our flat that night, and threatened me physically, that I realised what I was actually doing. I was destroying Naomi. Day by day, I was dismantling her self esteem, until she was completely lost. When she left me, it wasn't even a shock. I deserved it, and her being in Dublin was a bit of a relief, at least at first. Out of sight, and all that. I still ached for her...and nowadays that ache was swelling back up to the sort of emotion that used to overwhelm me in the old days. The days when I would catch her eye in a room full of people and just melt. We had a connection then which was almost telepathic.

But that was all gone now. She was in New Zealand, doing the things we always said we would do together (and didn't _THAT_ hurt like a bitch?) and I was here, handcuffed to a brass bed by my dear partner, hardening candle wax on my stomach and thighs, being penetrated by an uncomfortably large double ended dildo, while Kira puffed and panted over me, by the sounds of it, about a second away from getting off.

Unfortunately, I was hours away from that condition, so I did my usual trick. I screamed her name a bit, thrashed about, whilst trying not to make the metal cuffs mark my wrists any more than they already had, and made a pretty good job of persuading her I was having the orgasm of my young life. It worked. With one last painful bite on my sensitive nipple, she groaned and spasmed above me.

She reached up and unclipped the cuffs as her breathing went back to normal. The dressing on her broken nose still looked comical, and I looked away when she tried to hold my eyes. Naomi had certainly done a job on her. My bank account was A$2000 sort this week. Plastic surgeons don't come cheap...

"Gotta go babe" she said, already getting off the bed. "I have a appointment. You can tidy this shit up, yeah?"

I nodded, still rubbing my sore wrists. This was par for the course. Hit and run...that was Kira. Sort of like a client...if I wasn't so used to her ways by now, I would feel even more of a prostitute than I already did. Trouble was, I was the one paying for the 'pleasure' and it was getting a bit old for me.

"OK babe" I said automatically "Love you"

She nodded, as if that remark was only her due, and dressed quickly.

"Don't wait up" she said as she sprayed a generous cloud of Chloe over her top half. That was another thing I disliked about her (part of a growing list). After sex, I liked to either snuggle up in comfortable silence, or take a shower with my other half. Going out to meet someone, sweaty and smelling of sex wasn't my thing at all.

The door banging was the only answer to my statement. Situation normal then.

XXX

Two days later I found myself outside a very familiar door. A door I thought I'd never find myself outside again if I was honest. I hadn't seen Kira for those two days. She'd been 'busy'. And that was her mistake...this time at least. Because after the shit storm that was Effy and Jenny's wedding...oh and the extreme violence that Naomi visited on my other half, I hadn't had much time to think to be honest. Kira had made sure I was 'occupied' almost continually. Marking her territory, I think they call it. But since our little BDSM session the other night, she's been gone. And that gave me time to really think about where my life was heading, and more importantly, where the **love** of my life was heading.

I'd cried a million tears over Naomi in the past two years, but none of them had been so bitter, so crushing, as the ones I had shed after I got that final text. She didn't want me any more, and that hurt more than I thought I could feel again. Leaving her in Dublin had been hard, but this was way worse. This time she sounded as if she had airbrushed me out of her life completely. I deserved nothing better, I knew that, but it didn't make it any easier knowing that. Kira had confiscated my phone after she saw who the text was from, and that meant I couldn't even answer it. I knew Effy and Jenny would be on honeymoon, and I had no way of contacting Naomi. I mooned about for days, braving Kira's barbed comments and clumsy 'make up sex' attempts. But now, here I was, outside Effy's house, knocking on the door.

" _Oh_ "...Effy said as she answered the door. They'd been back less than 24 hours, but I needed to speak to her, and I had all my courage scrunched up inside of me. I heard the things she said at the wedding reception exactly as they were meant to be heard. Icy, venomous and direct. No one could aim truer than Effy when she wanted to get her point across.

"What do you _want_ Emily...Naomi's not here any more, and lets not pretend we're friends, huh?"

I swallowed hard, I should have known she would be like this. I could hardly blame her.

"Will you just let me talk to you?" I said humbly "...I promise, no more than 10 minutes...then you can throw me out". No point in being any other way.

"Throw you out?" she said coldly "Isn't that a bit presumptuous Emily?..I never invited you _in_ "

"OK" I sighed "Then I can talk from here...just give me the ten minutes?"

She shook her head, and my heart dropped into my Jimmy Choo's

"No..." she said coolly "Come in...I don't want the neighbours getting any more of a show than usual. But you've got exactly ten minutes. Then I DO throw you out, understood?"

I nodded and followed her into the wood floored hallway. It was cooler in there, and I was grateful for that. The summer sun was making my dress stick to my back. Add to that the nervous tension which was making me shake, so I was glad of the shade.

She led me into the kitchen and sat down one side of the scrubbed wood table. I dragged back a chair and sat opposite, my bag on my knees.

"Well?" she said flatly "What earth shattering event have you come to report?"

"I...I'm sorry Effy " I began, but she made me jump by slapping the palm of her hand hard on the table top.

" _DON'T_ " say that to me" she barked and I flinched backwards. I actually thought she was going to hit me. I had no interest in getting into a physical confrontation with Elisabeth Stonem. The only living person to have effortlessly slapped down my frightening sister. I wouldn't last a minute.

"Right..." she said "Before we get into your no doubt fascinating list of reasons why you fucked up my best friends life, _you_ can listen first. And before you ask, yes, this _is_ coming out of your ten minutes"

She regarded me with those cold blue eyes and my inner coward tried desperately to persuade me that getting up and making a run for it was my best option. I ignored it with difficulty.

"Naomi is having the time of her life in New Zealand" she said, smiling thinly at me. She knew that would hurt "Apparently she's met up with a hot yank chick who fucks her every night under the stars. Sounds like she's having fun...something she's not had a lot of in the past two years. And that's completely down to you Emily Fitch. I don't think I have ever seen anyone as completely in love with another person as she was with you. And that's from someone who's just got back from a honeymoon with the delicious Jenny...so you can take that as gospel"

She paused and sipped from a tall glass of fresh orange juice. She didn't offer me one.

"But that's all in the past, isn't it Emily?" Her eyebrow twitched upwards "You and Kira are blissfully happy...how _are_ the bruises nowadays?"

I twitched again...how did she fucking know...?

"Oh yes little Fitch" Effy smirked "I know Kira likes to play rough...and not just in bed. It might be a big city now...but Perth is basically still a small town. People talk. Bruises can't be hidden completely. She's a first class, cold hearted bitch, and until Naomi took her down so...dramatically...at the reception...she had quite the reputation. I think thats a bit damaged now, along with her snubby nose"

I tried, but didn't quite succeed in hiding the small smile which threatened to come out when I remembered how comprehensively Naomi had demolished Kira's hard woman credentials.

"So...basically, Naomi has given up on you. You've gone back to Kira, and you're here...for what exactly Emily?" Effy said icily "I would have thought you'd had plenty of time to come to terms with it all by now"

I knew if I tried to bullshit Effy, I really would be thrown out physically, and so I decided to just let the words out. No planning, no care, just words.

"I still love her Effy" I said, tears making my eyes sting.

"Well, duh..." she said sarcastically "I fucking know _that_...hell, _Naomi_ knows that. But its not enough is it? You basically fuck about with peoples lives Emily, don't you?. You hurt her so bad, she may never heal the scars you gave her, but it wasn't enough was it? You turn up here, with your excuses, and your ' _I love hers_ ' but you don't actually _do_ anything about it do you? She's been chasing you for over two years, and you've been running fast enough to keep her in sight, but not letting her catch you. What is it you actually **want** Emily?"

"I want her" I said simply. My throat was tight and the tracks of my tears were marking my makeup, but I couldn't give a shit. No more lies, no more pretends.

"So what the fuck are you going to do about it Emily?" Effy said, face giving nothing away. "Seems to me you want other people to do all the work. Katie, me, Kira...and most of all Naomi. What are YOU going to do about it?"

I gulped back the tears and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. They were so blurred with hot tears, I couldn't see her face properly.

"I want her back" I said pathetically.

"Times nearly up Emily" Effy said gruffly "And I've heard nothing new. Wanting her back...loving her...fuck. anyone with eyes can see thats what you want to happen. I asked you what _YOU_ are going to _do_ about it?"

"I need to find her" I said " I need to tell her that I'll do anything...anything at all to get her back. I've been such a fucking _fool_..."

"Well. That _something_ at least we can agree on" Effy snorted "I'm not even sure she'll even let you talk to her. I wasn't kidding about the hot Yank chick. Seems to me you have a very, very short window of opportunity here Emily. Do what you normally do, and sit back waiting for everyone else to decide for you, and our Naoms will be hot footing it over to the the good old USA to follow this Leah girl home...and then it really _will_ be too late. Naomi doesn't give her heart easily...but a few weeks in the wilderness with little Miss Cunnilingus of Idaho 2016, and she may be lost to you forever"

I swallowed thickly. The thought of anyone else with their hands on Naomi's body made me physically sick...and I know how hypocritical that is, given what liberties I had allowed Kira to take with mine, but it didn't stop it hurting like an open wound. But the chance that Naomi could actually fall in _love_ with this Leah was beyond painful. I actually felt my gorge rising. If I wasn't careful, I would be up-chucking my meagre breakfast onto Effys clean table.

"I need to find her" I said slowly "I don't deserve any help...I don't deserve _her_ , but I do need to find her. If you hate me Effy, I understand that...I'm sorry, even though you don't believe me. But if you know where she is, and you're willing to tell me, I'm going to find her over there. If she tells me to fuck off and leave her alone, I'll...well, I'll just keep on trying, because she's done enough running after me. Its my turn now"

"At last" Effy breathed, looking up at the slowly spinning blades of the fan on the ceiling "At fucking last...she _gets_ it"

She lowered her eyes and fixed me with that steady, steely gaze she specialised in.

" **One** chance Emily. This is the last piece of advice and help you're gonna get. Fuck this one chance up, and I'll fuck _you_ up. Not gently, like Naomi did with Kira...but permanently. Ask your sister about the way I deal with physical confrontations. I will _not_ tolerate you hurting her again...understood?"

I did, too fucking well. She could be genuinely scary at moments like this. I had no doubt that she was capable of doing what she'd threatened. I nodded.

"Right" she said "First, you need to ditch Kira. Like **totally**. Move her out of your life today. Second, its going to mean a long and maybe depressing search over there in Kiwi land. She Skype's me every three days, but her itinerary changes depending on the weather and her location. She's due to call me tonight, so I'll know roughly where she'll be tomorrow, and maybe the day after. But don't quote me. OK?"

I nodded again.

"Thirdly...you need to think about what it will mean to you if she _does_ say yes?"

I wrinkled my forehead...I hadn't though about that at all. But then I wasn't Effy Stonem.

She sighed as if talking to someone with learning difficulties.

"If she says yes...what are you going to do? You can't just come back here, pick up your glamorous life as a model and expect her to hang on to your coat tails. She's past all that fuckery. One of you has to compromise. And I think she's earned the right for it to be you...don't you?"

She was right. Getting back with Naomi was such a huge, monumental thing in my imagination, I hadn't even considered what I would do if she did take me back. Of course I couldn't expect her to just tag along while I carried on working here. The light bulb in my head finally flickered into life.

"I'll go back with her" I said simply "Wherever she goes...I'm going. I'll go back with her to Ireland, we'll sort it out then. I want to marry her Effy...just like we planned all that time ago. I love her...its that simple. I want a life with Naomi in it"

"Well...lets just hope you're not too late then" Effy smiled a little more kindly than before. "Because if you are...it'll be a long dreary year for you otherwise"

That didn't entirely make me fall to pieces, but it was a damned close thing.

I left Effy with my new phone number (phone purchased that morning, just in case Kira had the other one traced) and drove back to the apartment so wired up, I could have passed for a self medicating crack dealer. I made just one call on the way. To Katie.

By the time I got to the apartment, my fearsome but utterly loyal sister was already there. She was of course flaunting her impressive tits at the locksmith she'd called straight after I got off the phone to her. He was changing the cylinder lock in the flat and installing another heavy duty mortice lock below it. With Kira, it was best to be safe rather than sorry. We spent the time he took doing the job bagging up all Kira's stuff up into bin liners. It didn't take that long. Katie raised her eyebrows at the pairs of handcuffs and the bedside drawer full of oversize 'accessories', but apart from insisting on a pair of Marigolds before she would even touch them, didn't make any other comment, for which I was grateful. Even twins don't share _everything_...

In an hour, Kira's presence was airbrushed from my apartment and I steeled myself for the inevitable face to face showdown. I decided on neutral ground for the breakup. I sent her a text telling her I needed to see her, like _now_. She wasn't used to getting that sort of text from me, and ten minutes later, she was striding into the coffee shop I had chosen with a face like thunder.

As she sat down already glaring, I put down my cup. Here goes nothing...I thought.

"What the fuck _is_ this all about Emily..." she started, but I needed to get my hit in first so I interrupted. Something else I rarely did.

"Its not working Kira..." I said firmly and her jaw dropped before she recovered

"We're finished"

"W... _WHAT_?" she roared "Are you actually trying to _DUMP_ me Emily?"

"Exactly" I said nervously, hoping Katie had kept her promise about being there in case of physical violence "It's over..."

"Its SO _not_ over, bitch" she sneered, leaning right into my face " _You_ don't get to fucking decide shit like that. _I_ say when its over, and now you can get your pale, skinny arse back to our apartment. You and I need to have serious discussion about boundaries, and how you do as your fucking told...i think Miss Fitch needs some correction"

"I don't think so..." a voice drawled from over her shoulder, and she almost broke her neck snapping her head round to see who was talking.

Katie, thank God.

"Get your sorry arse out of that booth, and pick up your stuff from the porters lodge at Emily's place. You're _dumped_ , bitch. You can take it quietly, or you can carry on trying to frighten people. Just know that I don't frighten. I hurt people...and I really... _really_ want to hurt you...cunt. On your way, or I'll finish what the blonde dyke started...only _I'll_ do a proper job, and put you in traction for a month"

I never witnessed Naomi hurt Kira, so I didn't know what she looked like defeated and bloodied. I did now, if only metaphorically. I knew that _she_ knew my sisters reputation for extreme violence when provoked. She didn't look about to test the truth in that reputation any time soon.

Right, I thought, as she left with just one angry glare, as I stood up. Thats the easy part done...now all I need to do is to find Naomi. Simple, huh?


	7. Chapter 7

Emily

"That's my flight" I muttered to myself, checking my rucksack one last time for passport, boarding card and cash. Katie had been a diamond this past 24 hours. With Kira out of the picture, she had organised everything in double quick time. I'd cancelled 3 shoots, which would probably put my blossoming modeling career in permanent deep freeze, but some things are more important than money. Katie had lent me A$2000 in cash, which was now in my purse, and booked the flight to Christchurch and hired a little Suzuki four by four for my quest.

I put up with the questionable comparisons she made with my journey and Frodo Baggins. She of course, had never read the book, and barely made it half way through the first film, but she knew enough about the plot to tease me. I smiled at her jibes and kept my mind on the prize. Fuck One Rings and Orcs, I had much more daunting quarry ahead. Naomi Campbell, freshly released from her obsession with a certain Fitch twin. And already hooked up with a no doubt stunning American chick.

I hugged Katie fiercely, despite her complaining about creased designer jackets, and asked her to wish me luck.

"Fuck off, loser" she said amiably " Luck isn't required. One look at those Bambi eyes, and she'll be toast as always. Fucking Campbell has been besotted with you from day one. As long as you make her see you really care...she won't say no. Go and get your girl Emsy...Its about time you two sorted this shit out. I'm fed up with thinking for you"

That's about the closest I had ever got to a Katie endorsement for our relationship, so I was grateful, and gave her another hug.

"Bye then Katie" I said hopefully "Sorry about the shit storm at work"

She grinned cheerfully.

"Don't fucking worry about agencies and clients babe. You know me. One smirk, and some cleavage, and the cunts will be begging me for work. Get on that fucking plane and stop worrying about stuff I handle in my sleep"

With that, she spun on her expensive heels and marched off down the departures hall, collecting admiring glances as she went.

Oh Katie never change I thought, as my flight was called again.

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting on the Quantas 767, watching the semi attractive cabin attendant perform her pre flight ritual safety demo. Nice tits, too much makeup, was my internal assessment. She'd caught my eye when I boarded, and I knew all too well the signals by now. A bit of fame, and you suddenly got a lot more attention from both sexes. I just hoped one of my makeup or toothpaste ads weren't in the flight magazine. Even on internal flights from Perth to Sydney, I had suffered the pointing and boring questions from fellow travellers. I suddenly got very nostalgic for those early days...when I was just Emily...and Naomi was my only fan. Just her and me, holding hands in the Cineplus...

XXX

Back then…

" _Jesus Naoms...could that fucking German girl BE any less subtle about eye fucking you?" I grouched, throwing the_ _bottle of_ _P20 suntan lotion onto the towel beside us._

 _"Relax, Ems" Naomi smirked "You can't blame her. My hot body and newly acquired suntan is pretty irresistible, you have to admit"_

 _I slapped her firm arse as she laid face down beside me. The straps of her bikini top were undone, and just the flimsy blue bottoms were covering her delicious rear. Fuck, yeah...she looked hot. 5 days into our Crete holiday, the pasty complexion earned in a Bristol winter was long gone. Her hair might be a bit stringy from the swimming, but the rest of her was attracting admiring glances from both sexes. I could put up with the semi hard ons and lecherous male looks. There wasn't a chance in hell she would ever entertain sucking off one of those limp dicked wonders. But attractive and athletic blonde German tarts were a direct threat, and I wasn't very good at masking my jealousy._

 _"Ouch" she said mildly as the cheeks of that pert arse wobbled just a little from my slap. "Don't leave a mark hun...you might have to kiss it better later"_

 _I caught the cheeky grin she flashed me as her words registered._

 _"Oh no..." I said in mock horror. "Kiss your arse? I could never do such a thing Miss Campbell"_

 _She turned her head sideways and regarded me in amusement, sliding her sunglasses onto the top of her head. I got the full on blaze of startlingly blue eyes. Took my fucking breath away as always._

 _"I seem to remember you putting your lips...and other things...in most of my intimate places last night, Miss Fitch...several times, in fact?"_

 _"You must be confusing me with that bronzed German Amazon over there" I gestured with my arm. The girl in question was applying lotion to her arms and upper body, whilst trying to pretend she wasn't perving on my girlfriends tits. We'd briefly chatted to her yesterday, at lunch...and ever since she seemed to turn up everywhere we were. It was starting to bug me, and Naomi was having fun teasing me about it._

 _"She'll never get those Bavarian hands on **this** body hun" Naomi said brightly " Its permanently reserved for a small, flexible brunette with a skill set no one can match"_

 _"Oh yeah?" I said, running my hand over her back so that even in the heat of a Greek summer, she shivered deliciously "And what particular skill set would that be Miss Campbell?"_

 _"The one that starts O and ends RAL" she giggled " No one could compare to my Emily with that particular talent"_

 _I reddened a bit, remembering how I had kept her up till 3 this morning, going down on her over and over. I never could have enough of the taste of her excitement. I shivered myself...Jesus, I was getting wet again, just thinking about her breathless moans and trembling thighs as I licked her._

 _"Fuck" I said, my voice wavering "You're doing it again aren't you?"_

 _Naomi sniggered and reached out a cool hand, placing it on my upper thigh. It did nothing to stop the throbbing between my legs...but then it wasn't intended to._

 _"Lets get another half hour of rays...then you can take me somewhere private, and show me all over again" she growled. I felt the wetness between my legs increase as she spoke._

 _"Bitch" I said "Half a fucking hour...its gonna take me about half a minute to get off, with you teasing like this"_

 _She giggled dirtily._

 _"I'm up for a ringside seat...if you're offering to do yourself in front of me babe...you know how excited I get watching you...perform...we haven't played that game for weeks?"_

 _She laughed again and raised herself up on her forearms...which of course, left the bikini top on the towel. I stared at her tits, like a shipwrecked sailor spotting a glass of cold water. I honestly couldn't stop myself biting my lip when I saw her nipples were hard. It wasn't just me who was remembering happy times._

 _"Fuck half an hour indeed" she said. "And fuck horny German frauliens. Take me somewhere quiet and shady right now...I need you inside me Ems...fingers, tongue...your choice"_

 _I nearly broke an ankle jumping up and grabbing our bags and towels. I gave her a long, promise filled kiss as she stood up, twirling her bikini top in her hand. She was grinning again and I saw the German girl staring with hungry eyes. Someone knew exactly what we were leaving for. I'm guessing that not long after we left, she would be trying to find a solitary spot of her own...for a bit of personal time._

 _I know it was cruel, but the wink I gave her as we went past, Naomi still topless and...bouncing, was understood loud and clear..."For you, Fritz, the war is over"_

 _I watched Naomi's pert bum twitching inside her tiny bikini bottoms as she walked in front of me and licked my lips. Would I ever get tired of looking at that? I really, really hope_ d not...

XXX

I felt the stewardess touch me gently on the shoulder as I jerked awake.

"Nice dream?" she smiled professionally, which is more than could be said for her eyes, which were fondling my tits...metaphorically of course.

"Nice memories" I said, looking out of the cabin window to see we were descending, "lovely times, happy memories"

She looked at me sharply as the melancholy in my voice rang out.

"Boyfriend?" she asked sympathetically

I looked at her steadily. Unless her gaydar was terminally fucked, she knew already there wasn't any boyfriend style happy memories in my mind.

"Girlfriend..." I said, seeing her eyes widen slightly as I spoke. Don't get your hopes up hun...I thought "Tall, sexy and absolute dynamite in the sack"

She moistened her lips nervously, looking around the half empty plane before leaning closer. I knew exactly what she was doing now...imagining me naked with the mythical 'girlfriend'

It wasn't something new to me.

"Ex...or current?" she asked, holding my eyes with hers. I couldn't tease her any longer. Naomi wasn't just an ex...she was THE ex.

"Current...but thanks for the concern" I lied as kindly as I could manage, considering my brain was still trying to hold on to the sun kissed memory of that beautiful holiday. Would there ever be another. My heart ached for the past, but it also ached for the future. A future with a happy, smiling Naomi...smiling at me...for me.

XXX

The plane bumped down hard onto the runway and I looked listlessly out at the terminal buildings of Christchurch blur by. It was raining hard. Not exactly the balmy welcome I wanted, but fuck it...I was here... In New Zealand, and so was my love. I braved the scrum for the overhead lockers, and pulled my rucksack and bag free. I was travellng light deliberately, despite Katies attempts to fill the hold of the jet singlehandedly. I didn't think dressing to impress was going to work. The only thing I had to offer was me. She would either accept that, or reject it. I tried not to think too much what a return journey without her might be like.

An hour later, outside the arrivals hall, I queued for my turn at the car hire booth. Unlike Naomi, I've never been much of a driver. A few lessons, and a quick test in Perth gave me an Australian licence, but my experience was restricted to poodling about the wide streets of the suburbs in a cute little Fiat 500. Driving in mountains, even in a nimble little Suzuki Jimmy, was gonna test my courage to the limit. Effy had provided me with a photocopied itinerary that Naomi'd sent her by email yesterday. It made my heart ache all over again, when I read the excited comments Naomi had added to the Google maps route planner. She sounded like she was having the time of her life. Next stop was Milford Sound, in the far west of the island. I was going to have to drive all day and half the night just to get there ahead of her. Her and _Leah_...my inner voice scolded. Don't forget about Leah...Naomi won't have. I blinked away a tear. No time for self doubt. Get moving Emily.

The drive out of Christchurch was uneventful. I stopped for diesel about 150 km later, on the main South highway, and stared up at the incredible scenery as the tank filled. I still had hundreds of kilometers to go, and no fucking idea what was waiting for me, but for once in my life, I knew this was a journey I had to make. For too long, life had been something that happened to me rather than something I seized and moulded into something I actually wanted. First my mother...who I hoped fervently was nightly being reacquainted with the business end of a softball bat. Bit ironic really. Her the arch anti lesbian, locked up with dozens of them. Then Katie, who had ruled my life up until I met Naoms. After I managed to royally fuck that up...Kira had taken the vacant position as chief Emily life manager. The only person who had loved me unconditionally was Naomi. And I'd let her slip through my fingers. Feeling a fool wasn't something I was unfamiliar with...but losing her wasn't just careless...it was downright criminal.

By the time it started to get dark, I was winding my way up the Milford Sound Highway. I was thoroughly scared. Huge black mountains with snowy peaks crouched over the tree lined road. At least it was properly paved...but once the light went, it was just me...the thrum of the tyres on the road and the muted diesel roar from the Jeep. I'd filled up again just in case, at the last petrol station the guide showed on the road. I shook my head, opened a window to let in some cold mountain air, and braced myself for the last long leg of the journey. By the time the first light of a summer dawn started to illuminate the peaks behind me, I was pulling up in Milford Sound. I don't think I have ever been more tired in my life. I just had enough energy to check in at the New Riverside Motel. Effy had told me that Naomi had booked in there tonight.

The greasy haired guy on reception led me to my room. It was basic but comfortable. Katie would have been making star shapes on the floor and screaming for the honeymoon suite, but like I've been saying since I was old enough to talk...we aren't the least bit identical.

I threw my bags onto the floor and pulled out the folded paper with Naomi's itinerary on it. Effy said that she was planning on getting here mid afternoon, and staying at least 3 nights, so I figured I had 6 hours before she turned up. I stripped off my shirt, bra and cargo pants and pulled back the thick duvet. Despite it being summer here, I was used to Perth weather by now, and it felt cool in comparison to the dry heat of WA. I thumbed a text into my phone to Effy and Katie, telling them I'd arrived safely, then set the alarm on it for 2pm. I could have done with an extra hour...but I'd wasted enough time away from Naomi.

I woke to the sound of One Direction murdering another tune, and cursed the fact that I'd let Katie set up my new phone. She knew I hated boy bands almost as much as Naomi did, so this would be her idea of a joke. I cut them off in mid warble and stared blearily out of the window towards the Sound. Jesus Christ, I whispered to myself. This could actually be the most beautiful place on earth. Flat calm blue water surrounded by endless peaks covered in snow even at this time of year. Like huge sugar covered cakes. The sky was a deep blue...and the famous long white clouds were laying across the tops like cotton wool dressing. It was breathtaking. Even though my heart was pounding at the knowledge that Naomi was probably winding her way down the same mountain road I had travelled hours ago...it would have taken a Philistine of Katie proportions to have ignored this glimpse of heaven. I got out of bed and stared at the view, speechless, for a long minute.

Then I heard the crunch of tyres on gravel, and saw a dusty and weather-worn blue jeep pull into the car park. The door swung open and a familiar figure got out. She stretched and yawned, reaching up until her hands were vertical over her head. The other door opened, and a smaller, dark haired girl jumped out. They stood together, looking out at the same view I had been admiring. With a sickening lurch in my heart, I saw their hands entwine, and Naomi leaned over and whispered something in the other girls ear. She giggled in response, and I felt the first bolt of pure green jealousy stab me. It was so innocent, but so meaningful that gesture. I knew it so well, from the days when Naomi was as free and easy with me as she obviously was with this...Leah.

The other girl dropped Naomi's hand and instead, looped her arm round her waist. It looked what it was...two women, together and loving each others company. The sick feeling in my insides rose up, and I knew the meagre amount of food in my stomach was about to make a reappearance. Just as I raised my hand to my mouth, before turning for the sink in the corner of the room, the dark haired girl looked up and saw me in the window. She didn't know me...couldn't even have any idea what I looked like..I'm sure Naomi wouldn't be carrying any photo's of me in her purse...but when her eyes locked with mine...she _knew_. I could see it. Fuck. I dived for the sink before my ex could turn round.

I waited two hours before leaving the safety of my room. In that time, I was constantly on edge, fearing, but hoping for a knock on my door. I showered, and fretted over the state of my hair. Virtually 24 hours in a Jeep wasn't exactly good for the polished, sophisticated look. I settled for a messy ponytail, but managed to manufacture a reasonable quiff at the front. In the days before I had reduced Naomi to a nervous, fearful wreck back in Bristol, she used to try to persuade me to go back to that style. I would always say that it had more to do with my 'innocent virgin' look...and she would snigger and agree. Somewhere, in a rubbish tip near the zoo, was a screwed up school uniform she had bought me as a joke for Christmas. Lets just say no schoolgirl has ever been so comprehensively shagged in her uniform as I was that Boxing Day afternoon. I don't think my old biology tutor would have been amused at my new found fascination with female reproductive organs...

I dressed in a tight black v neck tee and matching black jeggings. So tight, I had to breathe in to do them up. I was pulling out all the stops here. Not wearing a bra was a risk, my tits jiggled a bit provocatively if I moved too fast, but I needed all the weapons in my armoury if I was going to make this thing work. As there was no knock on my door, I was gambling on this Leah not having told Naomi that some girl had been staring obsessively at them from a first floor window when they arrived. At least that was something. Pulling on my short leather jacket and dabbing on some Issy, I braced myself to go across the dirt courtyard to the bar/grill. The receptionist had told me that most new guests meet up there on their first day. You could book boat rides out into the Sound, and longer trips to Doubtful Sound and the waterfalls. The last thing I was bothered with was day trips, but I guessed Naomi and her new significant other might be.

I gave myself one last look in the reflection of the bar window, before pushing open the chipped red door and walking in. The place was busy. It looked a bit like an American diner, but at the back was a long bar and pool tables. I weaved my way through the front area, ignoring the curious looks and occasional wolf whistle. I'm sure Katie would have loved the attention, but I had no time to fend off unwanted male Kiwi advances. When I turned the leather bound corner of the bar, I saw her. She was playing pool with Leah. The other girl had just potted one of the last yellow balls, and Naomi was standing with her side on to me, smiling at Leah and making some sarcastic remark. There were a few hopeful males standing around, holding half drunk pints and trying to catch either woman's eye. They were wasting their time, but I suppose at this stage they didn't know that. Leah was wearing a really tight white jersey top, which showed off her small tits a treat. I noted miserably that going without a bra wasn't that original of me. Her tight blue 501's fitted perfectly over her long legs and pert arse. I had another twinge of jealousy as I thought how Naomi had certainly had her hands all over that tight body.

Naomi was in a blue check shirt, opened three buttons at the top...which must have made for interesting viewing for the guys sitting on the leather bench seat opposite the pool table. Her own tight black Wranglers showed off that perfect bum beautifully. This time, I remembered that I wasn't the only one who'd stroked that part of her anatomy either.

Leah saw me first. I saw the widening of her eyes, first at what I was wearing, then in recognition of my face. She might not have known what I looked like, but she seemed like a sharp girl...she definitely saw me as competition, and she showed it. Naomi was just flipping off some guy, who was probably practising a lame chat up line, when Leah leaned forward and whispered something in Naomi's ear. She straightened up quickly and went to turn round, but Leah reached over and grabbed her arm. I swear I had to physically restrain myself from shouting "Take your fucking hands off her" but just in time, the rational part of my brain reminded me I had no territorial rights over Naomi Campbell any more.

Leah spoke to her urgently, shooting me looks over Naomi's shoulder. I moved closer slowly, unsure what to do or say, now that we were in the same room. Finally, the American girl let go of Naomi's arm and my ex girlfriend spun round to face me.

Her expression was a strange mix of shock and fear. For a second I let her stare at me. The rest of the noisy bar faded into the background as we faced off. I noticed that Leah had moved away slightly and was distracting some of the more curious spectators by taking another shot.

Finally Naomi spoke. Her voice was slightly slurred, and I realised she had probably been in the bar an hour or more. Not good, I thought...drunk Naomi is unpredictable...just ask Kira.

"What the hell are you doing here Emily?" she said icily, and my heart thumped painfully. Oh shit...this is going to be bloody.

Naomi

"Come on loser, your shot" I jeered at Leah, even though, in truth, she was kicking my arse at pool. I suppose 6 months on the road in diners and roadside bars had taught her a few things. How to get back to whatever motel she was staying in without being raped, how to avoid getting your arse pinched black and blue by the drunks watching you play, and how to kick ass without appearing a smartarse or a pro on the pool table. Well, I don't know about the first two, but she certainly had me dressed and ready for the oven. I was 2 games down, and unless she missed the next yellow, I was fucked. I thought briefly about playing the oldest card in the book, flashing my tits at her, but she'd seen them often enough over the past few days not to be quite as impressed as she might have been once. Not that we'd done a lot of shagging since that night under the stars. Only once more actually, after a boozy session one lunchtime in a motel bar not unlike this one. But sharing a room, or a two woman tent, sort of reduces your embarrassment levels after a while. I sleep naked, so does she. Deal with it...

So I sighed, and resorted to a bit of sledging. Something quite popular in this part of the world, I believe.

She grinned back at me, totally unfazed and I prepared myself for defeat, and paying for the next round of beers.

Then she looked over my shoulder, and the happy grin faded. I started to turn round, but she gripped my forearm and leaned across to speak to me. Her face had a funny, serious look on it. Quite unlike the Leah I had grown fond of. We weren't a couple exactly, at least not yet. But we rubbed along OK as travelling friends...and sometimes we just, well... _rubbed_.

"I think you have a personal visitor" she said softly, barely audible over the dulcet tones of Mott the Hoople on the bar sound system...I think the world of rock stopped here in 1973...

Again I tried to turn to see. Visitor? Who the fuck knew where we were...let alone when we would be here..only Effy knew wh..."

I knew in that instant without even looking round. Of course...fucking Effy...it was going to be Emily. Suddenly my breathing got tight and the old familiar tingle started in my gut. _Emily_...

I started to get angry, even as Leah released my arm. Resentment mixed with fear and entirely unwanted anticipation. I hated that she could make me feel like this, just by being in the same room as me. I had been doing so well. Living my new life, with my new, attractive friend. Emily was part of my old life...the life I'd left behind. The life that had all that hurt and betrayal in it. And now she was here...in my new world, and I found I was still as helpless as ever about the way my body reacted to her presence. I spun round and stared.

Fuck, Jesus, bollocks. I thought immediately. She looks sexier than ever. The skin tight black jeggings. The leather jacket...that top, which I could see immediately didn't have a bra underneath...those fucking brown eyes, giving me the patented Fitch puppy dog treatment...even her hair, with the messy ponytail and that quiff I loved on her so much. My brain was screaming bitch...but my heart...and places further south...were saying something completely different. Something along the lines of "what is the shortest distance between here and the nearest soft horizontal surface...I need to take you to bed"

But the angry part won out. I was all too conscious of Leah watching quietly behind us. And the small crowd of hopefuls who had been watching us play pool were also taking a keen interest in this new player. Emily could always reduce a crowded room to silence, just by coming in...but I knew the atmosphere was electric, and people were starting to notice. I heard the click of cue on ball behind me, and silently thanked Leah for distracting our audience.

"What the hell are you doing here Emily?" I said quietly, cursing the slight tremor in my voice at the end of the question.

"I need to talk to you Naomi" she said, while those dangerous eyes pleaded with mine.

"No" I said sharply "We've done all our talking. Go back to Perth...to Kira...we're over Emily"

"I've finished with Kira...I've finished with Perth" she said softly "and I'm finished with running away. I love you Naomi...always have, always will...Please?"

I shook my head, trying to smother the tiny cheer that erupted in my head when I heard the words Kira and finished in the same sentence.

"No Emily" I said shakily "Its way too late. You had your chance in Perth. Its not the same now...I'm not the same now...we're over"

She reached out both her hands, her bottom lip trembling in an all too familiar way. I felt my body leaning towards her instinctively. All I needed to do was take her in my arms...we would be Naomi and Emily again...everything would be OK ..."

" _NO_!" I said fiercely, more to my wilting self control than anything, but I saw her flinch as if I was about to hit her. Fuck...I almost gave in. My heart was pounding as if I had run a mile.

"No..." I said again, less harshly this time. I could hear titters from the people standing closest to us and my face flushed as I realised we were playing out this little lesbian drama in public. Talk about 'Lip Service'.

Her face was pale and sad, and I had to grip my hands together on the pool cue to prevent myself hugging her. She had always had a magnetic effect on me. Not just in bed. Her eyes and mine seemed to have a locking signal. No matter how crowded the room, I always knew where she was. But this wasn't right. I'd broken those bonds...hadn't I?

"Its over Emily...deal with it" I muttered, hoping that she'd release me from this psychic grip. She blinked away a fat tear and spoke again.

"Can we go somewhere...anywhere...I just need to say some stuff to you" she pleaded.

"No" I said flatly. "Go home Emily"

She wiped her eye, leaving a smudge of liner which might have looked comical in another situation. But neither of us were feeling particularly jolly today. The pleasant beer buzz I had been feeling was gone. In its place a cold hard lump in my stomach, and the beginning of an afternoon hangover.

I put my cue against the nearest table and brushed past her...smelling Issy Myaki as I did. Jesus...she pulled out all the stops today, didn't she, I thought. I remembered her asking me what she should wear for bed, when she first started sleeping with me at my mums place. Issy Myaki, I used to say with a wink...just Issy Myaki.

I heard her call my name, but when the door closed behind me, she didn't follow me. I was glad. I had been hanging in there by my bitten fingernails. One more plea from those hypnotic brown eyes, and I might have broken.

Ten minutes later, I found myself by the waterside. I had wandered away from the usual tourist honey pot area, and the solitude was welcome. The huge peaks and sheer cliff walls towered above the Sound. There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance, and the early long white clouds were giving way to lower, darker cumulus. We were going to get rain...probably a lot of it. The gentle breeze of three hours ago was freshening, and I shivered a bit in my loose shirt. It had been designed to prompt Leah to want me. A flash of my tits...some suggestive comments during our lunchtime drink, and I'd hoped she would be interested in some sex. Some chance now. My ex turning up now had forced my libido to drop into my boots. I just felt tired and sad. I stared out over the cold water and crossed my arms over my chest. This was fucked up.

"Care for some company?" The soft voice came from behind me.

"Not really" I said curtly, hoping she would go away.

"Tough..." The American North Western drawl told me instantly who it was. At least it wasn't Emily fucking Fitch, I thought bitterly.

"Come on then" Leah said casually, moving beside me and putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked up into the gathering storm clouds and sighed brokenly.

"Why now...why here?" I said to no one in particular " It was gonna be such a fucking good day. I was going to whip your arse at pool, get drunk and then just whip your arse in that single bed upstairs"

Her amused giggle made me smile...even if it was a tiny one.

"Didn't go exactly to plan, did it Naomi" she laughed. "Your arse got whipped on the pool table...and what gave you the idea I liked it rough in bed?"

The impossibility of that statement made me laugh out loud. If there was one thing I'd learned about Leah in the past few days...it was that she definitely liked it rough.

"Err...the new muscles on my arm...after the work you put it through" I raised my eyebrow and she chuckled again, reddening slightly at our shared memory of that first night under the black New Zealand sky.

"OK...one all...as you Brits say" she smirked ruefully. "But enough about my sexual preferences. I've just had a short chat with your ex...or should I say your not so ex?"

"Its finished Leah" I said sharply. "Emily needs to leave. I'm not talking to her again"

"That'll be a bit difficult" Leah said quietly " Because at the moment, she's sitting on your bed, waiting for you"

"WHAT!" I screamed, making several seagulls reconsider dive bombing us for food "Why the fuck would you even _do_ that Leah?"

She looked at me steadily, her violet eyes probing mine.

"Because you need to Naomi" she said softly "Because you need to"

I felt the rage building inside me, and I was a hairs breadth from letting Leah have all the anger and frustration I had stewing inside me since I arrived in Perth. But it wasn't fair. She was really just a casual bystander. OK, we'd fucked...twice...but we both knew this thing between us...whatever you wanted to call it, had a very short shelf life. She would leave soon, and carry on with her journey. I would go back to Ireland, or Bristol, or wherever I eventually called home. It was no great love affair. I'd tried that flavour, and I didn't like it much. She was just a sweet, funny and sexy side salad. No more, no less.

But she seemed to have the measure of me. I knew I would eventually have to do what she said...speak to Emily. Despite what all my instincts told me I should do...run as fast and as far as I could away from her, I couldn't avoid the fact that her life and mine were woven together like the finest silk. I may not like her very much...I may not even want her any more...but I had to hear what she had to say. Even if it was just so I could tell her it was too late. She still made my palms sweat and my heart race. I think they still would when I was 65 , grey and wrinkled. But I couldn't forgive her...could I?

So much had passed between us. From the moment I saw her in that cinema queue. Dark haired fringe over her eyes, cutesy little bow to the side. Those soulful eyes, wide with innocence and self doubt. The first time we'd kissed...the first time I clumsily made love to her in the tree house...the way she had come apart as I touched her. Then, later on, when her confidence grew, the way she mapped my body with her eyes and hands. The wonder in them when she touched my breasts, my thighs, and between. We'd learned all about love together. Not just the physical way...the emotions too.

We'd laughed together, we'd cried together. I'd suffered more than once, deeply. That time I thought she'd slept with JJ. And then, when I'd stood alone outside the registry office, feeling a complete fool, deserted and abandoned. And the worst time...infinitely more painful than the last time in Perth...when she'd paraded random fuck after random fuck in front of me...taunting me as they pawed her...knowing I would be listening to her cries and moans in the night. Maybe that was the hardest thing to forgive...I don't know. I knew she was suffering too then...her sense of self worth and her love for me tested to the limit and beyond. She'd either had a breakdown, or been close to it.

But now I was here...now, in a foreign land, surrounded by enough natural beauty to dazzle the eyes. And so was she. Sitting on my bed apparently, waiting for me to come back.

I sighed deeply, and swallowed the harsh words I was about to utter.

"What am I going to do, Leah?" I asked miserably. "I hate her"

Leah reached over and brushed a stray lock of my hair out of my eyes.

"But you love her too...don't you?" she said gently "I know its an old cliche Naomi...but love and hate really are two sides of the same coin. I saw it in both of you, the moment you locked eyes. Its like the air is charged around you. You can't control things like that. Its pointless trying. Look..." She gazed past me at the silent lake. The clouds were now below the tops, rolling and surging in dark blooms. "Its gonna rain like a bitch in a few minutes. Dying for love is a romantic notion, but freezing to death in a New Zealand storm isn't something I had on my travel itinerary. Lets go back to the motel. I'll make myself scarce for an hour...you talk to Emily. Or rather...let her talk"

"I don't trust myself to behave" I said dully "I'll either give in to her yet again, without actually solving anything, or I'll knock her teeth out...I really don't know which"

"How about neither?" Leah smiled "Listen to what she has to say. Don't make any promises, and don't let her make any either. You've had a shock, her turning up like this. If I were you, I'd play it cool. If you think she's genuine about this...and more importantly, if you can forgive her...then take your time. Tell her politely that you need time to think it over"

"I said that back in Dublin" I said miserably "and I didn't see her again for over a year"

"Didn't change anything, did it?" she asked " You still love her?"

"Yeah" I murmured sadly "Isn't that the point...she turns up and Naomi turns to mush all over again"

"You're better than that" Leah said quietly "prove it"

I turned to her and kissed her gently on the lips. It was nice...it was always nice with her. That was the trouble...kissing Leah was nice...kissing Edita was nice. Fucking them was nice...but they weren't Emily, and I hated myself for comparing them.

"How come you're so sweet about all this?" I said quizzically "Shouldn't you be doing your jealous dyke bit now...cutting up my clothes and booking the removal truck"

She giggled prettily and gave me a kiss back.

"Nope" she laughed "Not the jealous type kid...but if you _do_ make up with her...any chance of a threesome? Emily has a body to die for"

I laughed with her this time.

"Can I get back to you on that one?" I joked "Could I suggest her twin sister. Bigger tits, bit more vocal, supposedly dynamite in bed, and I know for a fact she plays both sides of the park occasionally"

Leah grinned again.

" _Twins_?" She smirked "You've been holding out on me hun!"

"Cliche much?" I spluttered. "Don't even think about it...that only happens in bad porn films made for middle aged guys..."

"Err...well, there _were_ these blonde teenage twins in Albuquerque..." Leah grinned, at least having the grace to blush at whatever lurid erotic memories that little confession brought back " Cowgirls...very... _flexible_ "

I laughed out loud, for a moment forgetting how miserable I was supposed to be. I guess that was her intention, judging by her amused expression.

"You didn't...?" I said, open mouthed " _together_?"

"Yep.." she smirked..."and when they'd worn me out completely...they sort of finished each other off without me?"

"Oh my God..." I cringed "t _wincest_?...is there anything you haven't tried?"

"Yeah..." Leah sighed, suddenly serious again "Love"

"Oh" I whispered "Bit overrated actually...I don't recommend it"

"No it isn't Naomi...in fact I envy you two" she said, looking away from me "What you have...or what you could have, if you just stopped hurting each other"

"Its too late...I'm over her" I said tiredly "I've given her enough chances for two lifetimes"

"Bullshit" Leah said briskly "When you two are in the same room, there's enough electricity in the air to power a small town. Jesus, Naomi...I _saw_ the way she looked at you...and you at her...when you forgot to be angry for a second. Give her a chance. Talk to her"

I shook my head. This was the last thing I wanted to do. Coming here was supposed to cleanse me...to start over again. If not with this girl, then surely there was someone else out there who could make me feel the way Emily had in the early days?

"Stop over thinking it...go over there and just...listen" Leah said quietly "Even if you're dead set on not taking her back, you need to hear what she has to say"

I put my head in my hands and gripped my hair hard. Jesus, why did she have to show up now? Things were going great. But I knew Leah was right. Ignoring her wasn't going to work. If she'd flown to New Zealand, dumping the delightful Kira along the way, and driven hundreds of kilometers to find me...she wasn't likely to go away without talking to me. I sighed again and straightened up.

"OK...you win" I said heavily "I'll go over there and talk to her. No promises about what will happen after she's had her say. I want her to leave me... _us_...alone"

Leah reached up and stroked my cheek tenderly and I closed my eyes at the gesture.

"We're friends Naomi" she said softly "Friends with very satisfying benefits, and I adore travelling with you...but I think we both know that the person sitting on your bed right now is more than just a friend. Go talk to her"

"On one condition" I said firmly "Whatever she says, this makes no difference to our plans. We do the whole goggle eyed tourist thing in Fijordland...then down to Invercargill and the Southern Lights. And we do it _together_. Like we planned?"

"Deal" Leah smiled "and if Emily wants to tag along?"

"Then she'd better get used to being the third wheel. I still want to travel with you...drink with you...and spend the night with you...I had plans for a ...very _rough_ night...tonight?"

"Oh my" Leah grinned..."Are you sure...?"

"Sure" I grinned back. "I want to hear more about the Rodeo twins...did they actually...?" I stuck out my tongue and waggled it suggestively up and down..." together...like really?"

"Oh yeah..." she breathed "Very stimulating to watch...69 isn't just a random number babe...they'd obviously practiced a whole lot, growing up"

" _Fuck_..." I said "Details...I need details, tease"

"Later" Leah giggled "I'll tell you later"

XXX

As the heavens opened with the long threatened storm, we had just made the door of the Motel reception. I left Leah there. She headed for the tourist information booth and the rack of guides and brochures next to it. I'd asked her for half an hour, but I doubted it would take that long. As I walked up the wood staircase towards our room, my good humour disappeared as completely as the sun had an hour ago. Now my face was as thunderous as the weather. The first blue white streaks of lightning illuminated the dark corridor as I approached the room. Emily hated thunderstorms. I remembered that if I was out of the room when one began, when I got back, she would be cowering in a curled up ball, waiting for me to rescue her. She would cling to me as if she were drowning. The only thing that distracted her was sex. Well, she wouldn't be getting any of _that_ today.

Sure enough, when I opened the door and walked inside, she was sitting on my bed, facing away from the window as the thunder rolled and boomed outside. The flashes of forked lightning were getting closer and I could see the panic in her eyes. Gone was the sexy vamp from earlier. She looked about 12, sitting there with a look of terror on her face. Part of me wanted to pick her up and hold her close. She looked so small and vulnerable. But the other part wanted to punish her, so I folded my arms and stood in front of her, face fixed and impassive.

"You wanted to talk" I snapped, and she forgot about the storm for a second as she saw how cold I was being.

"Naomi?" she whispered in a choked voice. "The _storm_...please...I can't...you know how I...?"

I really wanted to tell her to fuck off. To go back to her own room, deal with her petty insecurities and phobias on her own. I wanted to say lots of spiteful and wounding things, about infidelity and betrayal and desertion. But my heart wasn't as hard as I wished it was. I wouldn't get any sense out of her while this thunderstorm crashed and exploded outside.

"Come here, you... big baby" I said brusquely, but the words didn't matter. It meant nothing. She wasn't forgiven, and nothing had been solved. But I couldn't just stand there, watching her come apart with fear. As I sat beside her and opened my arms, she dived for me like a lost child. Suddenly, I had a trembling and grateful Emily in my arms. I should have known then that I was lost. She fitted me like an old familiar sweater, for want of a better metaphor. I smelt her perfume, felt her soft hair against my cheek, and remembered the thousand times I had held her like this. My self control was slipping like a man who's fingers were clinging to a cliff edge...about to fall off.

I tried to pull her arms from around my waist, but her grip was unbreakable. I gave up after a few fruitless attempts. So I settled for just holding her shoulders lightly, whispering a few "its OK Emily...I've got you" and "Shhh's" for good measure. The storm only lasted about 10 more minutes, but all the time, she trembled and clung to me.

When the final rumbles and flashes faded, I think I was the more embarrassed. She finally unlocked her arms and looked up at me. Her eyeliner was now a ruin, and the Kung Fu Panda look made me smile briefly, before my inner voice screamed at me that a smile of any sort might be misunderstood at this point. I forced my face into a neutral expression, glad at least that I hadn't given in to my libido, and fucked her. I could have...it had occurred to me...being this close to her was like Superwoman and Green Kryptonite, totally debilitating. But I didn't.

"Better?" I said mildly

"Much" she mumbled, rubbing her tear stained face and fumbling for a handkerchief in the jacket pocket.

"Here" I gestured, holding out my own. She took it with a wan smile and wiped her face.

"So much for the impressive entrance" she said ruefully "I'm a mess"

"A pretty mess" I said, before my brain had a chance to correct my mouth. Fuck...now I'm giving her compliments, I thought. Focus, Naomi, focus...

"Thanks" she smiled shyly.

I decided I needed to seize the initiative. At this rate, I'd be apologizing to her in a minute, and going down on her in five... _FUCK_...did I just think that?

"Emily" I said firmly " You wanted to say something. I have a pool game to finish...and a very attractive American to shag afterwards"

I could have bitten my tongue off for that remark, when her face fell immediately.

"Right..." she said quietly "I deserve that...I know. So you and...Leah. Its serious then...?"

"Not really" I smirked "I'm not into relationships these days. People get hurt"

She winced slightly, and I enjoyed that guilty pleasure before wishing again I didn't feel the need to keep stabbing at her

She took a deep breath and started talking quickly. Like I was actually holding a fucking egg timer or something.

"I had all these fancy sentences thought out...driving over here. I was going to tell you I am sorry...but you already know that. I was going to say I fucked up...but that doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? I've loved you forever...from the moment you held my hand in that deserted cinema...but its not enough...not nearly enough. I ran when you needed me to stay. I moved down here to escape the guilt I felt about how I treated you, but it didn't work. Nothing worked..."

She looked up at me, eyes brimming with fresh tears.

"I could apologise to you...beg you for a month...a year...and it wouldn't begin to explain or excuse how I treated you back in Bristol. All I can say is that wasn't me...it wasn't the Emily you fell in love with..the woman you wanted to marry. It was like they stole the 'me' bit inside that place in Scotland, and left a shell that just looked like me. I thought I would get over it...the brainwashing...the isolation...the things I had to...do...with that guy, to stay sane. But I couldn't shake it...the feeling I was worthless. But thats still no excuse...and I'm not going to waste the little time you've given me trying to make any more"

She took a deep shuddering breath and wrung her hands together. They were red from what she was doing, and I had to stop myself reaching over and taking them in mine. I didn't speak...just watched her struggle. No one said I had to make it easy for her.

"And...?" I said, standing up and folding my arms.

"And...I want you back..I want my Naomi. The woman I fell in love with. I want what we had...what I think we still could have. I don't deserve it...I don't have any right to ask you...but you asked me what I wanted. Well, I want you"

"And that's it?" I growled "You flew and drove a thousand miles to tell me something you could have said in Perth. When we were laying in bed...after I'd shown you just how much I wanted you...needed you. Instead of that, you went back to dear Kira...left me to think you didn't care Emily. Have you any idea how many tears I've shed over you?"

She shook her head and shed a few more of her own. Her silent sobs were tearing at my heart like talons

"I'm not asking you to forget what a stupid cowardly fool I've been. I don't expect you to drop your friends, or change anything. This is your dream, and you've put your life on hold long enough for me...I'm just asking for the chance to prove to you that I have changed...that I can be _me_ again. Just let me tag along with you...I promise not to get in the way. You and Leah can be whatever you want to be together. I won't complain or interfere. Please...?"

"You mean you'll be fine about following us round. Letting Leah and I behave normally...kissing...even shagging?"

She looked down and her lips went into a tight line.

"I didn't say I'd be happy about it...I just meant I won't show it. I have no right..."

I looked up at the ceiling and blew a long breath out. Could I actually do that. Carry on with our holiday...having fun with Leah while my significant ex tagged along, trying not to explode with jealousy. I didn't think so...

"It won't work Emily" I said, looking back down at her " I know what its like, remember, watching another woman's hands inside your girlfriends knickers, while I watch from the lounge doorway. It burns, you see...watching your lover with someone else while _she_ watches _you_ suffering. It burns so bad, you think the flames will never go out. It burns so fiercely, you writhe and moan on your lonely bed as if she is making love to you...but its not love, is it...its cold, lonely fire...icy burning. Are you ready for that?"

"If thats what it will take for you to forgive me...then yes" she sobbed "yes..."

I stared at her in surprise...I couldn't believe she would volunteer for something so hard...so painful.

"OK..." I said hesitantly "Give me a while to think about it...I'll meet you in the bar at 8...I've promised Leah a night out. Come if you want?"

She nodded and wiped her face for the last time before getting up and walking past me. She stopped as she got to me, and brushed her lips against my cheek.

"I do love you Naomi..." she said softly "and I will prove it"


	8. Chapter 8

Naomi

OK, so this isn't working. Emily has been 'with' us for five days now. The first evening was uber awkward, and not just for her and me. Leah got a bit pissed off at my obvious PDA's with her and told me to go away and grow up, which hurt. Emily left in tears as I 'accidentally' let her overhear the lurid promises I was making Leah about later that night. I wouldn't mind, but I didn't even _get_ any. In fact I've not _got_ any since Emily arrived, which is doubly pissing me off. Two beautiful, available lesbian fellow travellers, and I might as well have been on my own. At least then I could wake up in the morning and give myself a well deserved finger fuck. I haven't even got any of that in so far. Masturbating in front of your girlfriend is one thing...I've done that, and watched it often enough...but trying to give yourself some relief under the duvet while you know another woman is in the room but not interested in joining in is a bit inhibiting. Not to mention the girl in the room next door, who is probably standing there half the night with a glass to the wall, in case you go through with your threat to shag your co traveller. Life is a _bitch_ sometimes.

But its got worse. Emily is true to her word. She's been helpful, happy and good company. If I didn't know better, I would say that the old Emily Fitch is back. Nothing is too much trouble...its like puppy training a German Shepherd. Always willing, always happy to see me...always bending over backwards to be the perfect companion. And its fucking killing me.

I don't think she does it deliberately...I don't _think_... But without being outwardly provocative, she turns me on more than I can bear. Its not that she's just...Emily... I expected that. The old Fitch magnetism is still there in spades. Its not that she even dresses sluttish or reveals too much skin...apart from the second day, when we went skinny dipping in the Sound...an experience I will _never_ repeat. Freezing your tits off is an expression, but I came close to seeing them actually drop off with frostbite. Never again. Its summer here, but the water is as cold as a November lake in Bristol. Its a good job my mind was overheated with seeing Emily's naked tits again, it was the only part of my body above freezing point. I couldn't help it...honest officer, perving on Emily Fitch's stunning arse is a given, like the sun rising in the East, or a politician lying to you. But apart from that...and she caught me looking, which was twice as embarrassing, _Nada_...not a single sexual encounter to tuck away in my memory bank for the time when I actually have the opportunity to play hide the finger with myself. Leah has made it abundantly clear that she isn't prepared to be my revenge shag bunny...especially if its designed to make little Fitch cringe with jealousy. Turns out they get on fine, which makes _me_ like the third wheel. _Not_ what I intended when I told Emily she could tag along. More than once I've sat nursing a pint whilst they 'bond'. Fuckers.

Take the other night. We'd driven all day, on lonely mountain and valley roads to get here. Bluff, in the far south of the country. The weather forecast is mostly clear and cool, so we had a pretty good chance of seeing the Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights. It was something I desperately wanted to see. Bluff is sort of the outpost of the Kiwi empire, South of it is just an almost uninhabited national park island called Rakiura , then Antarctica. OK, the town itself actually faces north, but with a bit of rough driving and local advice, we got to the southern edge and a place called Lands End. Pretty similar to our own version, but with the added attraction of the lights...if they showed up. That night, niet,...too cloudy, but the second, it happened. We stocked up on spliff (The Maori ability to source high quality grass is unrivalled!) and vodka...pitched the tents just away from the tourist signpost spot and waited. We'd had a good meal in the Drunken Sailor Café bar before...managing not to scandalise the locals too much with our obviously infectious lesbianism...its a bit of a backwoods here, and we were warned, kindly, I might add by the plump landlady of the guest house we had booked into, that too much outwardly gay PDA activity would attract the wrong sort of attention. As she put it, with an amused wry smile

" _Some of the guys down here would fuck an attractive sheep...hell, they'd probably take it on a dinner date first, so you three pretty females would get their imaginations going a bit too much. Don't want a fucking riot, girls, do we?"_

Not much chance of that anyway, I thought miserably. Leah was being polite and enigmatic...Emily was just being polite. I got the puppy dog look about twenty times a day, but she seemed to realise that I was still hurting, and kept a respectable distance mostly. I spoke to her briefly and as coolly as I could if she spoke to me. I could see it was hurting her...especially if she tried to touch me at all. Any attempt to do that was met with raised eyebrows and a quick move away by me. It killed me to see the hurt in those big brown eyes, but I was determined not to fall into the trap I had before. If she wanted to be my friend, fine, but anything more was off the table.

Anyway, about half way through the Polish vodka and cranberry mix, and the over-large Sensimilia joint we were smoking, it happened. The sky just morphed into swirling curtain like patterns of fire. Red, blue, green...it changed by the minute. I felt like the last person on earth. What had the ancient people thought of this, I thought. Us twenty first century humans were stunned enough, and we knew what it was. It was glorious, electric and it looked like it had been put on just for us. We sat together, forgetting the damp grass and the cool on shore breeze. This was magic on an epic scale. The alcohol and grass helped, I supposed. If you're gonna watch a heavenly display, it doesn't hurt to be a bit stoned...

"Unbelievable" I sighed..."Fucking...magical..."

Leah was sitting on one side of me and she leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Just going over there for a moment babe" she said and I looked at her in puzzlement.

"B...but...?" I gestured up at the light show above us..."This is... _Leah_?"

"Shhh" she said softly..."Look"

She pointed to the other side of me. Emily was sitting with her hands holding her knees. Her face upwards, entranced by the spectacle. I was instantly back in that cinema in Bristol, when Effy had manufactured a special showing of that sexy French lesbian film just for me and Emily. The look on her face when the show started was just like this. Innocent, childlike and awed. Then I noticed tears rolling down her cheeks. She was crying silently. My heart leapt in my chest. _This_ was the Emily I remembered...

When I looked back to Leah she had already got up and moved away. That girl had an uncanny knack for empathy and perfect timing, I thought grimly. She knew me better than I knew myself and in less than a month. A rival for Effy Stonem, that one...and it occurred to me that if _they_ had ever got together, the world would tremble, and empires fall.

I turned back to Emily and saw her looking at me with huge, sorrowful eyes. Her lip trembled, and my stomach lurched yet again.

"Please forgive me Naoms..." she said shakily "I can't bear it..I can't go on without you any more...I know I don't deserve you...but this is killing me...I...I.."

"Shhh" I said "No more words Emily... I... I _forgive_ you..."

I couldn't kiss her. That would have led to other, more intimate things. But I reached out and took her in my arms. She collapsed against me, sobbing as if her heart would physically break. I'd never heard anyone cry like that. Not even myself, when I'd been abandoned at the altar...not even when she was punishing me night after night in Bristol... I think she wasn't just upset, not just letting out her misery at our breakup...this was more...much deeper. I have no idea what she went through back in that Scottish mad house her mother had her incarcerated in...no idea what hundreds of lonely nights had been like for her...but this was crying that said her self loathing and utter despair was being revisited on a grand scale.

I held her for nearly half an hour. After ten minutes, she stopped sobbing and just drew ragged breaths, clinging to me as if her life depended on it...which I supposed was true in a way. Abandoned by her mother, treated like a nuisance by her dominant sister all her life...being with me was about the only equal relationship she had ever had in her life. Kira had just been a substitute Jenna/Katie, with nasty side effects. I thought briefly about getting up and leaving her. I didn't feel I had punished her nearly enough. But to be honest, this was hurting me almost as much as her. Being so close to her without any of the easy intimacy we had always had was harder than I ever thought it would be. Punishing her was also punishing _me_. These past five days I had never felt so alone, even with two beautiful women as companions. It was time to make a decision. I could get up and leave her now...tonight...and never look back. Leah would wave me off with a smile and no regrets. But if I did, I would be killing the one thing I had built my life around. There had never really been anyone else but Emily for me. For fucks sake, before I met her, I had convinced myself I was _straight_...and look how that worked out for me.

No...I knew then, there was nothing I could do but stay with her. She could break my heart again...but what alternative was there? Life with Emily could be fraught...life _without_ her was empty, meaningless and bleak. Being on the road with Leah had taught me a few things I needed to know about myself. Yes, I _could_ exist on my own. Yes, I _could_ enjoy the company, and the body of other beautiful women. Yes, I _could_ function as a human being quite well without Emily Fitch...but did I actually want to?

I brushed tangled hair from her eyes and held her chin so she was looking at me.

"It's not going to be easy Em" I said softly, the nickname rolling off my tongue far too glibly "I haven't forgotten how much you hurt me..." She opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her by putting my finger on her lips

"In a minute " I said "Let me say this first" She nodded and blinked a stray tear away.

"I can't live without you either. I've fought it...I've slept with other women and I've tried lots of other remedies...but nothing works. Being without you leaves a cold empty hole in my heart. It hurts...every day, every hour we're apart. But that doesn't mean we can just go back to how it was. I've got terrible scars now... _here_ "

I held her hand to my heart and she sobbed again.

"But it's healing. And being with you the last few days, despite the fact that I've been trying to make your life a misery...has reminded me that whatever happened in the past...we either sink separately or we swim together. We can't go back to how things were before the wedding day, but we can't go back to how we've been recently either. It means a new start. I don't know where...but I want you to be with me wherever it is. I love you Emily Fitch...always have, always will. I'm a fool for you...and wherever we end up...I'll _still_ be a fool for you."

I took a deep breath and pushed her back at arms length so I could see her properly.

"But I need a promise from you"

"Anything" she breathed, linking her fingers in mine. My skin shivered at the contact.

"Promise me you'll never deliberately hurt me again?" I said, blinking away tears of my own.

"I promise...I promise...I _promise_..." she choked before pulling me into her. This time I didn't resist the kiss. It was chaste and brief...but it was the most significant kiss I had ever experienced. When we parted, I hugged her, and she hugged me back. We had lots of things to sort out, lots of problems still unresolved. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind reminded me that I had wanted to punish her much more...for much longer...this was giving in...surrendering yet again. But I pushed it away. I had been unhappy for almost two years. Wasn't it time to grab the happiness that was being held out to me?


	9. Chapter 9

**First bits a bit...overheated...so read it alone!**

 **I don't own Skins, I just love them more than their creators.**

Naomi

"Morning" I heard as I cranked open my eyes against the glare of a Bristol morning. I'm not a morning person...did I say that already? But the antidote to that was laying opposite me, looking fondly at my crumpled 'morning face'

"Morning beautiful" I croaked, wishing I hadn't bothered with that last spliff before bed. Effy said it would calm my nerves...but the person opposite me did that just by being alive. I squinted again at the sun as it poured between the gap in the curtains, straight into my face.

"Coffee, tea...or _me_...?" she smiled cheekily.

I grimaced as my head slowly cleared, but then flashed her a return smile. It was impossible to be grumpy, even this early, with a smiling Emily Fitch in my bed...and a naked Emily Fitch, to boot, judging by the swell of creamy flesh peeking over the duvet. She caught my eyes wandering and her mouth twisted in amusement.

"Awake enough to perv, then Campbell?" she said huskily.

"Always, Fitch" I growled " _Always_ " I reached over and pulled her to me possessively. "I think ' _me_ ' is the answer to your question"

She chuckled and kissed me hungrily "The offer was entirely bogus" she said "Either drink would involve getting out of bed...and I wasn't planning to for at least another hour"

"Good" I said, burying my head between her pert breasts, and beginning to work my way down her smooth body "I'm thirsty for something much tastier"

I felt her stomach ripple as she laughed out loud

" _Gross_...in a way...but I'll let you off one one condition babe?"

"And that is?" I said, raising my head under the duvet so I could look at her face.

"I'll tell you later" she smirked "Weren't you going somewhere?"

I grinned back at her, before continuing my journey. A familiar journey...ending between Emily's thighs. She arched her back as I licked her slowly with flattened tongue, up and down, savouring her excitement. Already her small clit was peeking out to meet my mouth. Her fingers locked in my hair, and she began to rock her hips in time with my lazy strokes. We both knew this game well enough not to want to rush it. A few minutes doing this, pausing on the upstroke to tease her clit with gentle circles. Then some deeper thrusts with my tongue, inside her clinging heat. She clutched me tighter, but I carried on with the slow pace. Her breathing was getting faster too, but other than that, the room was quiet. That would change. Emily was always quite...vocal... when she was being pleasured.

The tip of my middle finger teased her wet lips, joining my tongue in lapping and stroking. The first " _Uh_..." came from above. I smiled inwardly. We had always been able to arouse each other ridiculously easily. Nothing had changed. The finger went an inch deeper, still gently and slowly. I lapped harder on her clit and began to blow on it alternately. We were up to the " _Oh_ _fuck's_ " now...so I moved on.

The first finger slid in up to the knuckle, and this time I sucked on her clit, trilling my tongue over the tip. She arched up, and her hips began rolling. The hands in my hair clutched tighter. So I added another finger...slowly curling them backwards in counterpoint to my teasing tongue. Suck, lick probe, lap...it was a routine which never got old or boring for either of us. Emily was even better at oral skills than me, so the tingle between my legs was ignored...for now. She would take care of it soon enough.

Both fingers scissoring and thrusting now, I sucked harder and grazed my teeth against her clit carefully. Now she was moaning continuously. Not the fake, over the top porn style moaning. No, this was deep in her throat and accompanied by twitches and muscle ripples inside. No fakery here...

" _Please?_ " she groaned hoarsely, and I thrust deeper, curling my tongue until it was encasing her clit like a warm wet glove. I sucked and lapped faster.

"More" she moaned simply...and I complied.

Another finger slid inside. Three together pumping and curling together. I could feel the walls inside her grip me tightly. Soon then...

I slid my other hand underneath her and wet it in her juices. She felt the movement and thrashed so hard I had to stop for a second to let her calm down. Not yet, I thought, baby...you _know_ what's coming, and you need to be patient a second longer.

Emily's guilty secret. The one _no_ one else knows, but me.

Her pert bottom penetrated by a slick finger...only occasionally, and only when I knew she was dying to feel it. A slim wet digit teased and entered her agonisingly slowly. She groaned aloud, and her profanities expanded to include God and all the angels. Her body was moving up and down in time with my thrusts. Three fingers, straight and hard. A tongue now concentrating on lapping as fast as possible...and that slim middle finger on the other hand, moving in opposite time, deeper and deeper.

"Oh God, Oh fuck Naomi...like that...YES...like _that_!" she screamed.

I felt her orgasm build in seconds. I knew her toes would be curling into the mattress right now, and her fingers were scrabbling for grip in my hair. My mouth was covering her completely, sucking, licking and teasing. My hands were working in opposition, the in stroke countered by the out stroke. She wailed and arched up like a bow, her thighs spread and quivering. Then it hit her and she gabbled something indistinct, something not even a language. The only decipherable word was " _Yes_ " so I was guessing I was doing something right. Her orgasm shook her for long seconds, in spasms, writhing and trembling. By the time she had subsided onto the bed again, I had withdrawn both sets of fingers and was kissing my way up her body. She stared at me with wide and puzzled eyes.

"What the hell are you doing to me Naomi" she gasped, tits rising and falling with her need for oxygen.

"Err...making you come?" I said cheekily, kissing her lips gently.

" _THAT_...wasn't a fucking _orgasm_..." she said, brushing tears from her eyes " _THAT_...was something beyond...something incredible"

"I like to give satisfaction, Miss Fitch...you know that" I smirked.

She smiled at me and kissed my lips "It's no good" she breathed..."I'm going to have to marry you. There's no way I can let talent like that go anywhere else"

"Just as well it's today then" I smiled back "And this time" I snuggled into her body and stroked her hair "We're going _together_...right?"

Both of us winced slightly at the meaning behind that statement. Last time we were supposed to get married, she was abducted by the She Devil herself, and I spent the next two days crying in bed. That was definitely NOT on the agenda today. Our wedding day. The day we finally put the past behind us and sealed the deal.

XXX

It hasn't all been roses round the door and morning sex. We came back together to Bristol first. Mainly because of familiarity. But it wasn't the same of course. I still had that nagging feeling when we went out, that one of Emily's randoms would pop up again and regale me about her undoubted oral talents. Hearing about how Ems had got some skank off, on her knees in a pub toilet was a bit of a mood killer. But it didn't happen. The closest we got to my green eyed monster being released was funny for all the right reasons.

We were out that night in a pub in the centre of town. A new pub, with no past associations and/or memories to fight. It was a good night. Emily was getting attention, of course...lots of it. I think she gets prettier every day I see her. But it was mostly male, and I had no concerns as she politely and humorously brushed them aside. One girl, a bit Emo style, was giving Ems the definite come on from the corner, but my girlfriend didn't even meet her glances. When Emily went to the loo, the girl followed her in, but seconds later, Emily came back out and beckoned for me to join her. When I walked in, the other girl was standing by the mirror waiting. When she saw me with Emily, her mouth dropped open. One intense and lengthy kiss later between us, and the Emo had exited rapidly. We had a giggle about that. But the real kicker was later on that night. Another group of girls came in half an hour before closing, and a short skinny blonde with red highlights kept shooting looks our way. My hackles went up. I thought it was either one of Emily's old conquests, or someone new who looked ready to chance her luck. Emily saw my frown and told me straight away that she'd never seen her before, but I was still on red alert for any move.

When it came, it wasn't quite what either of us had expected. Just before last orders, the girl tottered over to our table and smiled crookedly at us both. I glowered and Emily kept a straight face.

"I've been checking you out babe" she slurred and my fists bunched under the table. Emily put a calming hand on my bare thigh.

"I noticed" I growled, hoping the tone of my voice would give her fair warning.

Emily stayed polite and said something about us being a couple, and thanks but no thanks.

But drunks don't do subtlety, and this one didn't buck the trend.

"I think you're fucking gorgeous" she hiccuped as she swayed "Fucking _beautiful_ "

Emily's face got serious. She knew I wasn't good with female opposition, and I suppose she thought I might resort to physical violence if this piss head didn't back off.

"I'm not interested love" she said sharply "Uh...I think your friends are _leaving_?" She pointed over at the gaggle of equally stupefied college age girls watching us.

The persistent admirer blinked at Emily for a second, processing what she'd said through the fog of umpteen tequila shots.

"What are you fucking _on_ about" she said thickly "I'm not talking to you...its your mate I fancy"

It was just as well I didn't have a drink in my hand. I would have dropped it.

Me?

With that, the girl dropped a piece of torn paper on the wet table top and staggered off. Emily and I looked at each other and gaped. Eventually, as the crowd of pissed students left...my admirer giving me a broad wink as she twitched her arse on leaving...I picked up the paper and saw a name and phone number on it. I started to giggle, and Emily stared at me as if I was mad. I couldn't stop laughing, until I was doubled over, clutching my stomach. I just had the strength to pass the note to a bemused Emily before another spasm of helpless laughter hit me.

She grabbed it from me, scanning it for the joke. Then she threw her head back and laughed with me. Every time we locked eyes, we were off again. The barman was shooting us concerned looks. I'm guessing he thought we were having a cannabis episode...the giggles, followed by the munchies...perhaps he was fearing for his pork scratchings stockpile. He needn't have worried. We didn't need weed, we were high on laughter.

Emily put the note face up in a puddle of melted ice, and the blue inked letters and numbers started to run and fade.

' **Call Me?** " it read, and underneath that it said ' **KIRA'** in capitals, with a phone number following.

You really couldn't make it up...

XXX

So we went out less than we used to, but everything else was going great. I was just enjoying being part of a proper couple again. In fact we were even closer than we had been before. Being tested as much as I had been wasn't something I would recommend, but we had weathered it and come through. Emily was different but the same, if that makes any sense whatsoever. She wasn't the shy little virgin I met all that time ago...but she was still sweet, loyal and loving. Very loving, as it turned out. Apart from the joke pick up in the pub, Kira's name was verboten. I hated what she had done to Emily, in the short time they had been together. I'm all for sexual experimentation...me and Ems had tried most things...buggery and Morris Dancing excepted, but I didn't get off seeing her cry, or humiliated. Being tied down and licked thoroughly is one thing, no one objects much to _that_...but having random objects inserted into you...violently, isn't experimentation...its abuse. And the constant verbal taunts and digs must wear you down almost as much as the physical stuff. I did ask Ems why she put up with it, but it took several months to reveal it all. I was all for booking a fucking hit man, but in the end, I didn't need to. Effy, you see. Not that she did it personally. She's a respectable married woman now, you know. No...Kira was the victim of a random hit and run coming out of a nail bar in Fremantle. Seems like she'll be in a wheelchair for a year at least...shame huh?

Similar nasty things happened to our dear friend Freddie...although it had nothing to do with any of us. Couldn't keep his skinny dick out of trouble. Turns out one of the girls he was teaching fellatio to in the Scottish 'prison' was the 15 year old daughter of a certain Serbian drug lord. This guy hated that his daughter was gay...but he hated even more the fact that Freddie had been dipping his wick there nightly, while she was supposedly 'safe' from molestation.

Freddie turned up in the woods, where we'd met him that night. The Police said he must have taken a while to die. I suppose being nailed to a tree with your testicles sown into your mouth with cotton thread is what they call a hell of a way to go. I caught Emily smiling grimly at the gruesome Sunday newspaper reports, and left her to it. Some other demons were put to rest that day...

And what of the force of nature, formerly known as KFF...I hear you ask? Stranger than fiction, actually. She's living with someone now. They're coming to the wedding. Not an Aussie Rules footballer, rugby player or minor TV celeb...no, much less obvious. A fucking _girl_.

Yep...a girl. She met this Melissa at a photo shoot 4 months after Emily and I came back to the UK to live. Tall, willowy, and a ringer for a certain Stonem girl who is currently permanently unavailable. Emily actually dropped the phone when Katie rang and told us.

"I fucking knew it" I blurted out...and got the immediate third degree from Emily about how I could possibly know anything about Katies sexuality that her gay twin sister didn't. I felt it best not to go into any detail about my own fondling of Katies mint tits when we shared a bed that time...back when Emily and I were apart. No need at all to drag _that_ skeleton out of the closet.

But Katie's reaction to having her nipples teased by another girl convinced me she wasn't half as straight as she protested. I think actually she had been bi all along. It was more fear...and the fact that Emily came out before her, stealing the thunder as it were, which prevented her from admitting it sooner.

"Just think" I said in an amused tone "All those stiff dicks she's sucked...all that swallowing...and she could have saved her digestive system the shock...she was into muff all along?"

That got me a frozen silence that lasted half a day. I had to repent by demonstrating my own oral preferences on one Emily Fitch...twice...before I was properly forgiven.

I went and spoiled it of course. Just before a tired and satisfied Emily's eyes closed...I whispered in her ear.

"So...the twin thing... **definitely** a goer now babe?"

Pillows can hurt, you know, if they're swung hard enough...

But apart from that bombshell, things have gone great. My mum and Kieran insisted we visit them, and after I showed Ems the sights in Dublin, she fell in love with the place. We had our pictures taken by the Spire and the Post Office in O'Connell Street. We visited Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Store...along with numerous watering holes in Grafton Street and Temple Bar. No old shags to worry about turning up...no bad memories. I'd forgotten how much I loved Ireland...and the Dubliners I knew.

So we moved over about 7 months after we got back. We've got a small house in Blackrock, which Kieran paid for, and we walk a few minutes to the Dart station if we want to go into town..The City Centre and Pearce Street is minutes away.

I took back the running of the old pub, much to my mothers delight. Kieran was drinking the profits a little too quickly for her liking, even though they don't need the money.

And with Emily taking her degree now, and me resuming my studies...we thought now was a good time to do what we intended to do a couple of years ago. We're getting married...well, civil partnership. Ireland isn't quite as liberal as the UK...but whatever. Emily Fitch will become a Campbell-Fitch...and so will I, finally ridding myself of the isolated Campbell surname that has caused me so much grief in the past.

And today's the day. Unlike last time, we're going together. Don't get me wrong, I trust Emily to show up...Jenna is still doing her apprenticeship in muff diving in Styal Prison. From what I've heard from James, inevitably (I know he has an entirely inappropriate fascination with his older sisters bodies...despite being regularly pummelled for it in the past...but having any interest at ALL in your mothers sex life is just... _wrong_ ) Jenna is having to reconcile herself to the fact that women do make out together. In there, its practically compulsory. Maybe she's taking classes?

But then, this is the James who...after the barbecue Ems and I went to at her dads new house last month, took me aside in all seriousness, and asked me if I would give him a hand job now everything was OK. The little fucker had saved all his Christmas and Birthday money to bribe me with. I couldn't resist teasing him, of course.

"I'll do it for a hundred" I said seriously "not a penny less"

I knew he only had eighty quid...and you could see the desperation in his eyes as I looked at him sitting there in the empty spare room.

"I've only got £80..." he mumbled..."what will you do for that?"

It was cruel, I know, and I got serious grief from Emily afterwards for egging him on, but come on? It was priceless...

"No top off" I said..and his face dropped.."But I'll make it a blow job for another £10?..."

His face was a picture. He's been trying to see my tits from the first day I'd met him...helping his Dad clean out the garage, when Effy and I took Emily's fake ID to her old house. Now he was being offered the ultimate prize. I could see the cogs working in his pervy little brain. I was sure Gordon McPherson was behind the offer...and I'm positive there would be a web cam set up somewhere...

"Y...yeah...that'll be fine...I'll borrow it" he almost moaned...He jumped off the bed and started to undo his trousers..poor little fucker. The closest I've ever come to sucking a dick was in year 13, when Nicky Parsons almost persuaded me that doing it was normal for a second date. The horny bastard might have got away with it if he'd bothered to wash the bottom half of his body as thoroughly as he had the top. His aftershave made my head swim, but the unwashed gonads made me puke. No sale...

I stood up too...which made James stop what he was doing. Thank God...I had no wish to see his pencil dick in a state of excitement.

"April _fool_ , James" I smirked "Not in this fucking life...sorry mate?"

The look of disappointment on his face as I left the room would have made a statue weep. I guess Gordon McPherson would have to do the honours on my behalf...

XXX

So after we finally got up, reluctantly in both our cases...I had a solitary shower...just in case Emily wanted to go for round three. Not that I object to shower sex with Emily...ever, but we would be having the honeymoon backwards if we weren't careful. I wanted that ring on her finger and those two names permanently entwined in writing first. Just superstitious, I guess.

We arrived only five minutes late at the Civil Registration Office in the city. It had only been legal here since 2011, unlike the UK...but it was getting more popular. I was wearing a cream silk suit, Emily was resplendent in blue. Effy, Jenny, Katie, Melissa and Emily's family were all there. The sun was shining, people were smiling, and the world was sane again.

I walked up the steps with Ems, as happy and proud as I could ever wish to be. It had been a long, hard road...but we had arrived. I swapped goofy looks with Emily as we were led into the register office by the usher.

"I love you" I whispered as we walked to the desk. She smiled up at me, looking at me with that sweet, angelic face, irresistible to the last. "I know" she said quietly "I _know_ "

 **And that, my lovelies, is _it_. **


End file.
